Welcome to the Polish Base on the New Cold War's Front Lines

Central Poland—The wheels of an F-16 smoke and squeal as they meet the runway of the Polish airbase at Łask. The jet is moving fast and the runway is short; a parachute pops out of the back of the warplane, jerking it and its Polish pilot to a halt.

As Russian aircraft continue to rattle nerves in Europe, this air base is increasingly busy. Sitting at the leading edge of the new face-off between Russia and the West, Polish fighter pilots here stand at the ready to respond to Russian incursions. PM visited Łask in late September; several weeks later, these provocative Russian flights had become standard events.

NATO and allied jets have scrambled more than 100 times this year in response to Russian military sorties. This activity is growing more dramatic. Within the last week, NATO intercepted four groups of Russian aircraft. "These sizable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace," the alliance said in a statement.

When the planes at Łask jump into action, it's called a Quick Reaction Alert, or QRA. Lt. Col. Ireneusz "Palm" Nowak, the base commander at Łask, says that while the Russians keep to their own airspace, the Poles scramble fighters to shadow them whenever they come near. Sometimes, Nowak says, Russian aircraft cruise right up to the the Polish border in what professionals call RECCE missions — reconnaissance endeavors meant to test the enemy's readiness

"They test the time of reactions, radio freqs (frequencies), how our jets move," Nowak says. "Most of the time we accompany them along the Polish border, then pass them off to another nation's QRA." The cat-and-mouse game makes for good practice for the Poles, and everyone else in NATO, to track what the Russians are doing.

Welcome to the front line of the new Cold War in Europe.

Polish pilot Capt. Leszek "Spilt" Siemieniewicz stands near an F-16 at Lask air force base. (Photo Credit: Joe Pappalardo)

Confronting the Russians

At Łask, round aircraft shelters are clean and well kept. Carefully clipped grass grows on the ordnance bunkers. The runways are smooth and bright. This is no derelict leftover of the Cold War. Located on the grounds of a former Soviet air base, Łask was renovated two years ago in anticipation of an influx of F-16s.

Poland made the choice a decade ago to adopt American airplanes and tactics. That decision has produced two squadrons of F-16s that can confront the Russian threat better than the older, Soviet planes that make up the bulk of the Polish air force. Nowak, who is an F-16 pilot, graduated in the first class of pilots trained by the American Air Force. "I knew the process would be painful, time consuming, and expensive," says. "It's taken us 10 years."

Nowak is a pro — he knows that the Poles would be outnumbered, outgunned and out-trained if they ever faced Russia in combat. Besides these few F-16s, most of the Polish Air Force still uses Soviet-era aircraft that wouldn't do well against new Russian warplanes and mobile surface-to-air missiles. "We see Russian equipment getting better and better, and we have to catch up with them," he says. "There is no other way."

Because they can't match the Russians plane-for-plane, the Poles look to the United States for help. The U.S. has responded with an increased presence, but the American warplanes here arrive unarmed. They're here to train the Poles, not fight alongside them.

Asked about how F-16s would fare against newer Russian fighters, Polish fighter pilot Capt. Leszek "Spilt" Siemieniewicz avoids details but gets to the larger point. "They have more quantity," he says. "Even if it's a bad aircraft, they can still put 100 in the air and we can only put 10."

U.S. forces on temporary training missions, imparting best practices to the Polish fighter pilot community. (Photo Credit: Joe Pappalardo)

Modern Tactics, 1970s Warplanes

Capt. Kevin "Gator" DiFalco is on his second deployment in Poland. The day before we met, he made very humble aviation history when he flew alongside a pair of Su-22s Fitters (a state-of-the-art airplane in the 1970s) that were carrying incendiary bombs. His job was to fly with the Polish pilots to coordinate an airstrike. It was the first time such a joint bombing run was conducted between the two aircraft.

DiFalco gives a blow-by-blow of the mission: He flew ahead of the Polish pilots, radioing what is called the 9 Line in Western military doctrine: nine pieces of information that must be delivered before launching an air-to-ground weapon. This safeguards any troops below and makes sure the airstrike hits the right target. Gator talked the Su-22s to the target by radio. No laser guidance here — not with outdated Soviet Fitters dropping the bombs.

In the end, they pulled off an on-target, American-style bombing run. "The Fitter is not a Western aircraft, but we employed it using Western tactics," DiFalco says the day after the flight. "Even with antiquated equipment, the Poles are making really good progress."

Still, his visit—like those of all U.S. pilots in Poland—is a brief one. American training rotations in Poland end and the fighters go home, leaving the Polish air force on its own. Only 10 U.S. airmen are permanently stationed in Poland, making up a group that's called Aviation Detachment 1. This unit makes it easier — and cheaper — to train in Poland by doing the advance work needed to bring 200 airmen and a dozen F-16s to an airbase such as Łask. The detachment, the only one of its kind, does airfield surveys, checks the aviation fuel quality, and irons out all the logistical details.

"It's no secret that the Poles want a permanent NATO base here," says USAF Maj. Matt Spears, the former commander of the U.S. detachment, who established the program two years ago. "We're not that, but it's a step in the right direction."