[Video] Polish F-16s Tear Up the Mach Loop

Polish F-16s Tear Up the Mach Loop

Filmed recently by our friend Dafydd Phillips during Exercise Cobra Warrior 2026, the cool video in this post shows some unusual fighter jets soaring through the “Mach Loop.”

Phillips explains;

‘Exercise Cobra Warrior can bring the occasional surprise to the Mach Loop and this year the exercise certainly did that. The Polish Air Force paid us a visit in their F-16 Fighting Falcons and flew the loop incredibly well like seasoned veterans in their stunning tiger livery. With the ongoing situation in the Middle East the Mach Loop is generally quieter with little if any United States Air Force visitors from RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath. On this day, the video shows a relatively busy day with aircraft that include,

• F-16 Fighting Falcon, Polish Air Force
• Eurofighter Typhoons, Royal Air Force
• Texan T1, Royal Air Force
• Hawk T1, Royal Air Force
• F-35B Lightning II, Royal Air Force
• Hawk, Qatar Emiri Air Force
• Airbus A400M, Royal Air Force

‘Enjoy the video!’

Exercise Cobra Warrior 2026

Exercise Cobra Warrior 2026, the UK’s premier air combat training united aircrews and aircraft from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland for advanced multinational warfighting training.

The drill run from 16th to the 27th March 2026. This flagship exercise sharpens the joint mission planning, integration and tactical execution skills essential to modern coalition air operations. Delivered by the Air & Space Warfare Centre and sponsored by No. 11 Group, Cobra Warrior pushes frontline forces to operate at the highest levels of complexity and realism.

Cobra Warrior took place directly after Exercise Agile Warrior 2026. While Agile Warrior strengthened dispersed airbase operations, Cobra Warrior shifted the focus to high tempo, contested warfighting scenarios that place multinational crews under demanding conditions.

Cobra Warrior is the Royal Air Force’s most advanced tactical air exercise. It prepares fast jet aircrews for high intensity conflict against an adversary equipped with comparable technologies.

Participating aircraft included the RAF Typhoon, F 35B, Voyager and A400M, alongside a wide range of aircraft from partner nations. The exercise included integrated air–land training, with the RAF Regiment and UK land forces working to refine close air support procedures, ground threat replication and combined planning. This multi-domain approach ensured air and land units could operate seamlessly in a contested battlespace.

Partnership with Germany and Poland

This year’s exercise highlighted close operational partnership with Germany and Poland. The RAF was joined by the German Air Force’s Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 74 and the Polish Air Force’s 3rd Squadron, bringing Eurofighter and F-16C capabilities into combined missions.

UK Typhoons, F 35Bs and Air Mobility Force aircraft such as Voyager or A400M, alongside Wildcat Mk1 and Chinook support from the Joint Helicopter Force contributed to a fully integrated multinational force. NATO E 3A and US Air Force E 3G aircraft provided airborne command and control for complex, multinational composite air operations together.

Photo credit: Dafydd Phillips