The Polish Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej. In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 military personnel and about 475 aircraft, distributed among ten bases throughout Poland.
Polish Air Force fighters, 1919
American volunteers, Merian C. Cooper and Cedric Fauntleroy, fighting in the Polish Air Force as part of the Polish 7th Air Escadrille, known as the "Kościuszko Squadron", 1920
A PZL.43 tactical bomber
PZL.37 Łoś medium bomber
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, Also called the Polish Armed Forces And popularly called Wojsko Polskie in Poland are the national armed forces of the Republic of Poland. The name has been used since the early 19th century, but can also be applied to earlier periods. The Polish Legions and the Blue Army, composed of Polish volunteers from America and those who switched sides from the Central Powers, were formed during World War I. In the war's aftermath, the Polish Army was reformed from the remnants of the partitioning powers' forces and expanded significantly during the Polish–Soviet War of 1920.
Emblem of the Polish Territorial Defence Force
GROM special operations unit secures a section of the port of Umm Qasr in Iraq, 2003
Polish army's Rosomak armored vehicle on patrol in Ghazni, Afghanistan, 2010
A Polish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon during a military exercise, 2019