Officials from Fort Smith and Poland sign Friendship Pact, mark arrival of F-35 jets
(from left) Lask, Poland, Mayor Monika Mrowińska and Fort Smith Mayor George McGill following a Friendship Pact signing ceremony in Lask.
Several people from Fort Smith, including Mayor George McGill and Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tim Allen, were recently in Lask, Poland, to participate in events that included the signing of a “Friendship Pact” between the two cities.
The pact signing and other events held June 12 marked the arrival of Poland’s first F-35 Lightning, with some of the nation’s first cadre of F-35 pilots trained at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith. On May 19, 2026, the Fort Smith Board of Directors approved a resolution authorizing the Friendship Pact, “recognizing the importance of the relationship between the two communities and their shared connection through the F-35 training mission,” according to a city press release.
According to the city, the pact encourages “cooperation and cultural exchange between the two cities” based on the connection through the F-35 pilot training center at Ebbing.
Ebbing was selected in March 2023 by the U.S. Air Force to be the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program pilot training center supporting F-35 fighter planes purchased by Singapore, Poland, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Czechia, Greece, and Romania. The 85th Fighter Group and the 57th Fighter Squadron, both under the Eglin, Fla.-based 33rd Fighter Wing, operate at Ebbing and are responsible for training F-35 pilots from numerous U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries. The center receives support from the 188th Wing which is also based at Ebbing.
The first Polish F-35 jets arrived in Fort Smith in December 2024.
The base also will house and provide training support for Republic of Singapore F-16s. Singapore’s F-35 fighter jets are expected to arrive at Ebbing in late 2026, with the country’s F-16 fighters set to arrive in the summer of 2027. Up to 400 personnel are to be stationed in Fort Smith when all Singapore planes arrive.
“It was an honor to receive an invitation from Poland’s Minister of National Defense and the Mayor of Łask to participate in the induction ceremony of Poland’s new F-35 ‘Husarz’ aircraft into the Polish Armed Forces at the 32nd Tactical Air Base,” Mayor McGill said in a statement. “Our participation in this historic event underscores the growing international relationship between Fort Smith and Poland, as well as the strategic importance of the F-35 Foreign Military Sales training mission based at Ebbing Air National Guard Base. Fort Smith’s selection as the home of this mission has elevated the city’s international profile and created opportunities to build meaningful partnerships with allied nations around the world.”
The Fort Smith chamber said the event included talks about economic development opportunities between the two cities.
“The center of our discussions explored opportunities for commerce between our two communities, and how to reinforce this new relationship that started with the F-35 Foreign Military Sales program at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith,” noted a chamber statement. “Thank you to our friends in Łask for their continued partnership and the warm hospitality shown during this visit. We’re grateful for this new friendship and look forward to our continued growth together.”
188th Wing Commander Col. Johnathan Esparza, and Col. Nick Ihde, commander of the 85th Fighter Group at Ebbing, also attended the ceremonies in Lask. Polish President Karol Nawrocki and members of Poland’s military command staff also participated in the ceremony officially marking the F-35 arrival.
During the ceremony at Lask Air Base, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the deputy prime minister and minister of defense, announced that Poland plans to buy an additional F-35 jets, which would bring the total purchase to 64 of the fifth-generation jets. The initial purchase of 32 F-35 jets was valued at $4.6 billion. The jet is manufactured by Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed, and are built in Fort Worth, Texas.
“A total of 24 Polish pilots, as well as 90 maintainers will be trained in the US, with Polish F-35As used for training remaining at Ebbing until the third quarter of 2027, after which they will be redeployed to Poland,” according to this report from Breaking Defense Europe.