The jets flew over the White House in a missing man formation in honor of a lost Polish pilot.
American F-16 and F-35 fighter jets flew overhead the National Mall at the arrival of Polish president Karol Nawrocki to the White House. In a video published by the White House, four of these jets are depicted flying directly over the meeting spot of US president Donald Trump and his Polish counterpart.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said that the “spectacular flyover will honor the memory of a brave Polish fighter pilot whose life was tragically taken too soon and capture the special relationship between our two countries.” In late August, a Polish F-16 fighter jet crashed during a rehearsal for an airshow, killing the pilot. To honor the late pilot, the four Fighting Falcon fighters depicted in the video shared by the White House are performing a missing man formation.
In addition to the F-16s, four F-35 Lightning II jets were also slated to fly over the White House in recognition of the growing relationship between America and Poland. During the visit, Trump warmly welcomed the US European ally, commenting that the relationship between the two nations is currently “better than ever.” This visit comes as Trump appears to be getting more and more frustrated with the lack of progress by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the ongoing war. Since Poland shares a border with Russia, Nawrocki was seeking a commitment from Trump to maintain a strong American force posture on the ground in Europe.
Here are more details on the fighters that flew over the White House.
The F-16
The Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon has remained an impressive fighter platform for nearly half a century. Designated as a fourth-generation jet, the platform features a litany of sophisticated attributes, ranging from armament power and speed to electronic warfare and superior combat radius. In terms of weapons, the Fighting Falcon is equipped with nine hardpoints for weapon payloads and can carry the AIM-9 Sidewinder, Raytheon AMRAAM, Raytheon Sparrow, and other air-to-air missiles. Air-to-surface missiles carried on the Fighting Falcon include Shrike, HARM, and Maverick munitions. The F-16’s success in the skies has made it a highly popular platform. In fact, the air forces of at least 25 nations currently fly the fourth-generation series.
The F-35
Widely touted as the most advanced fighter in the skies today, the F-35 Lightning II may be unbeatable. The fifth-generation fighter was born from the Joint Strike Fighter program, a collaborative effort between the United States, the UK, Italy, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, and, formerly, Turkey. Featuring a reduced radar cross-section and radar absorbent coating materials, the Lightning II is extremely challenging for adversarial aircraft to detect. The Pratt & Whitney F135 engine powers the fighter, enabling it to reach speeds in excess of Mach 1.6 (times the speed of sound). Perhaps the F-35’s greatest attribute is its ability to service data transmission between all Lightning IIs, including those that fly for foreign militaries.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has bylines in many publications, including The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
Image: DVIDS.
