Following the Russian drone incursion in Poland, a RNLAF F-35A has obtained a drone kill marking under the cover rail.
A Royal Netherlands Air Power (RNLAF) F-35A of the 313th Squadron has obtained a drone kill marking after capturing down one of many Russian drones which entered Polish airspace within the night time between Sept. 9 and 10, 2025. The picture was printed by the Dutch Ministry of Protection on its web site.
The textual content accompanying the picture talked about that the RNLAF F-35 detachment will keep in Poland from Sept. 1 to Dec. 1 as a part of the NATO mission. Moreover, the textual content confirmed as soon as once more that the F-35s opened fireplace towards the Russian drones.
The kill marking has been utilized slightly below the cover rail, exhibiting a Shahed-type drone form. Though not precisely the identical, the form is fairly much like the Gerbera drones that have been recovered on the bottom.
The Incursion
A number of Russian drones violated Polish airspace within the night time between Sep. 9 and 10, 2025, throughout Moscow’s large-scale strike on Ukraine. Based on Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a “large quantity” of Russian drones crossed into Polish skies in the course of the assault, which focused a number of Ukrainian areas.
A minimum of eight Shahed-type drones crossed into Poland’s course, penetrating Polish airspace, with Tusk saying 19 violations have been recorded. Airports throughout Poland have been quickly closed, together with Warsaw’s Chopin and Modlin airports, in addition to Rzeszów-Jasionka — a main logistics hub for navy help to Ukraine — and Lublin Airport.
The Response
A number of belongings have been launched to counter the airspace violation, together with Polish F-16s and Dutch F-35s. The latter are at present deployed to Poznan Krzesiny airbase for NATO’s Air Policing mission.
The unprecedented incident marks the primary time that Russian belongings have been destroyed over NATO territory for the reason that begin of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Based on Tusk, the drones posing a right away menace have been neutralized by fighter jets, with no casualties reported.
Based on Protection Information, quoting official sources, three drones have been shot down by NATO plane, whereas at the very least eight others crashed inside Poland. Luckily, there have been no casualties, though particles was recovered in a number of places.
The Netherlands later confirmed that the F-35s have been used to shoot down a number of the drones, with out specifying the quantity. With the kill marking appeared within the new picture, we are able to now say that at the very least one drone was shot down by an F-35, with the second (NATO fighters in Fast Response Alert responsibility at all times fly in pairs) probably capturing down extra.
