Eight Polish military helicopter pilots will begin training in the UK from the 2026 to 2027 training year, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed in a written parliamentary answer.
Responding to a question from Conservative MP James Cartlidge, Veterans Minister Al Carns said: “Poland is one of the UK’s strongest allies and the UK-Poland defence relationship goes from strength to strength.”
He pointed to ongoing cooperation under NATO operations, stating that “cooperation under NATO’s Eastern Sentry mission sees British and Polish pilots flying together to protect Polish and NATO airspace.”
The minister confirmed that “eight Polish military helicopter pilots will commence training at RAF Shawbury in Training Year 2026/2027,” adding that this has been agreed “through the NATO Flight Training Europe (NFTE) programme.” However, the Ministry of Defence said decisions on further training places have not yet been made. According to the written answer, “NFTE allocations for the remaining Training Years in the current Parliament have not yet been confirmed.”
The training forms part of wider UK-Poland defence cooperation announced earlier this month, including enhanced missile defence collaboration and closer integration of air and rotary-wing training within NATO frameworks.
Do they need to? Is this a necessity or a bit of political headlines between our 2 countries? Don’t get me wrong, the Polish are the tip of the NATO spear, a mature, pragmatic and practical people with an ever increasing defence capability. Any partnership with Poland and its armed forces is fine by me, and always a good move. Shame the UK political elite have such a different domestic outlook however than the Polish head sheds!!!! We can learn much from the Polish!
Yes, the country is booming, there is great pride in their nation, and amazingly little terrorism, helped by a homogenous population, low immigration, and a refusal to let their culture be eroded. Their membership of the EU to get vast funding for updating their infrastructure has also helped I guess.
On the helis, can we buy some Polish Blackhawks?!
Agreed mate have a number of Polish colleagues and they have all said, bar none, that if they move towards war in the near future they will all make their way back to Poland! As for Helis, Blackhawk has to be the easy and most cost effective solution in a limited time frame! I’m sure Poland would square us away if our dear leader wanted it to happen, alas this will not happen due to the reasons we have alluded to previously 👍