Dutch F-35 shoots down Russian drone over Poland

A RNLASF F-35A seen flying over Poland sporting a kill marking of a Russian UAV following an engagement in late September. (Netherlands MoD)

A Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force (RNLASF) Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has shot down a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying over Poland.

The Dutch Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced the engagement on 30 September, saying that F-35A fighters based in Poland under NATO's enhanced Air Policing (eAP) mission had engaged and downed a Russian UAV that had crossed into alliance airspace. At the same time it released an image of an RNLASF F-35A sporting a drone kill marking stencilled on the airframe.

“The F-35 fighter planes in Poland will be in the country from 1 September to 1 December to contribute to the protection of the NATO treaty area. The Dutch pilots have already come into action several times, using weapons to shoot down Russian drones on one occasion,” the MoD said.

The kill marking located under the canopy depicted a Geran UAV (based on the Iranian Shahed), though it is not known if this is the type that was shot down or if it is a representative marking of a Russian drone.

It is also not known what weapon system the F-35A employed against the Russian UAV, but for the air-to-air role it is typically armed with an integrated GAU-22/A 25 mm Gatling gun, RTX AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, and AIM-120C Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs), any of which could have been used.

While the MoD gave no date for the engagement, the first of its kind over NATO territory, it likely happened during a massed incursion of more than 20 Russian UAVs into Polish airspace on 10 September.