Swedish Gripen fighters to help guard Poland's Ukraine aid hub from October

Sweden will send air force crews and aircraft to help guard the Polish airport that handles most military aid bound for Ukraine, starting October 1, 2026. The roughly two-month mission will be flown by the Blekinge Air Wing (F 17), based at Ronneby in southern Sweden, according to the Swedish Armed Forces. Most sorties will launch from home bases, with a small forward site inside Poland. Neither the Swedish government nor the armed forces said how many fighters would take part.

In theater, the Swedish detachment will report to NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre at Uedem, Germany. Defence Minister Pål Jonson said the aircraft would join allied air and missile defense over Poland and help keep military support moving to Ukraine. He cited the security picture and repeated violations of alliance airspace as reasons to keep readiness high on NATO's eastern edge. The Swedish government called the contribution part of NATO's integrated air and missile defense.

The site being protected is POLLOGHUB at Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, Poland's main transit point for equipment and other assistance bound for Ukraine. Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz visited the hub and its defenses on September 24, 2026, and described it as the place where military and humanitarian aid is coordinated and moved through. The airport lies about 80 kilometers, or 50 miles, from the Ukrainian border and has been central to the supply chain for Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. A Patriot system is among the defenses already there. Poland has introduced new rules meant to let its forces react faster to threats in the air.