FORT SMITH — Polish pilots have begun their training in the Foreign Military Sales Program at Ebbing Air National Guard Base.

Col. Nicholas Ihde, 85th Fighter Group commander, said the two Polish pilots at Ebbing have had their first flights in the F-35 aircraft. Ihde said the first flights and landing were great.
 

Poland now has four jets in Fort Smith, Ihde said. The fourth came in from manufacturer Lockheed Martin on Friday.

Poland’s Country Liaison Officer Lt. Col. Adam Rosiakowski has settled in Fort Smith, as he will be here for the duration of Poland’s three years in the program. Rosiakowski is the direct liaison to the Polish Ministry of Defense and the Department of Defense.
 

Ihde said Rosiakowski is Poland’s “boots on the ground” at Ebbing, adding Rosiakowski has been a “great help” so far in the program.
 

Rosiakowski has come to Fort Smith with his family and their dog, Goldie. They have gotten a house, driver’s license and a car and his children are in school, said Ihde.
 

Rosiakowski said he was welcomed at the Fort Smith Regional Airport after an exhausting 26-hour journey to a “full crowd.”

“I was overwhelmed for the hospitality and everything they brought,” said Rosiakowski about his arrival. “They brought me meal. They took me to the hotel. They did everything they could to make me feel like at home. And I did.”
 

The welcoming group included members of the 85th and 57th Fighter Groups and Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tim Allen, Ihde and Rosiakowski said.
 

The members of the 85th and 57th Fighter Groups who are helping train the pilots in the sales program at Ebbing are very experienced in preparing foreign pilots, said Rosiakowski. Poland is glad to be sending pilots through the training program’s process to make Poland safer, he said.
 

Ihde said Poland is phasing out their fourth generation aircraft and replacing them with fifth generation F-35s. He said it’s important for the program to stay on timeline and have all Polish pilots back home in 2027.
 

He also said in 2026 there will be jets that go directly to Poland and the Polish will be able to take their initial cadre of instructors back and start training their own pilots in Poland.
 

The integrated training done at Ebbing in the best jet in the world, alongside other NATO forces, sends a message Poland is powerful and is a profound deterrent, said Rosiakowski.
 

Gary Axley, Ebbing’s international military student officer, said the Russians are consistently flying aircraft “back and forth” out of Kaliningrad and Belarus — both of which border Poland.
 

“So when they look in and they see Poland flying the F-35, it’s a very strong message. It signals to our adversaries that they’re ready and that they’re capable. I think that’s huge,” Axley said.
 

All of the countries participating in the sales and training program will send their best pilots, Ihde said. He said those people rise to become the top people in their respective militaries.
 

“We’re building the relationships with the people that might, at the end of the day, become the ministers of defense, of Poland or of Finland or of Singapore,” Ihde said. “And now those people all have one common thread and background,” the thread being Ebbing Air National Guard Base.
 

Ihde said every person will come through the same place in the River Valley to train and learn the fifth-generation fighter. He said they will then take everything they learned back to their home countries and be able to react to anything that happens around the world.
 

The first Polish aircraft landed in Fort Smith Dec. 23 and were flown by Ihde and Lt. Col. Jonathan Hassell, 57th Fighter squadron commander. Both pilots flew a Polish jet from Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. The flight was 32 minutes in the F-35, Ihde said.
 

Fort Smith will be an international center of excellence for F-35 training, said Ihde on Dec. 23. He said Poland will have eight F-35s and will be followed by Finland with eight F-35s. Three countries eventually will be operating at Ebbing simultaneously, along with Singapore’s permanent squadron, Ihde said. Singapore will bring F-16 aircraft.
 

Allen, the Chamber of Commerce president, said he started working about four-and-a-half years ago to make Fort Smith the hub for F-35 training in the U.S. The project has been his most challenging and rewarding project to date, he said.

Foreign Military Sales is a security assistance program authorized by the Arms Export Control Act, which allows the U.S. to sell defense equipment, conduct training and provide services to a foreign country when the president deems doing so will strengthen national security and promote world peace.
 

Arkansas competed with four other states to be the host of the training center. Allen said it was a community effort to make a compelling case as to why Fort Smith was the best choice.