JOE PAPPALARDO: Welcome to the Polish Base on the New Cold War’s Front Lines.

NATO and allied jets have scrambled more than 100 times this year in response to Russian military sorties. This activity is growing more dramatic. Within the last week, NATO intercepted four groups of Russian aircraft. “These sizable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace,” the alliance said in a statement.

When the planes at Łask jump into action, it’s called a Quick Reaction Alert, or QRA. Lt. Col. Ireneusz “Palm” Nowak, the base commander at Łask, says that while the Russians keep to their own airspace, the Poles scramble fighters to shadow them whenever they come near. Sometimes, Nowak says, Russian aircraft cruise right up to the the Polish border in what professionals call RECCE missions — reconnaissance endeavors meant to test the enemy’s readiness.

Can’t we just give Poland some of those nuclear Pershings we used in the 1980s?