Helsinki plans to field 64 of the single-engined strike fighters.
Finland has brought home its first batch of US-made Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters.
Two of the conventional take-off and landing variant F-35As landed at Rovaniemi airport on 18 September. The site is home to the Finnish air force’s Lapland Air Wing, which currently operates the Boeing F/A-18C Hornet fourth-generation fighter.
The newly-built jets, tail numbers JF-510 and JF-512, left Lockheed Martin’s main F-35 production centre in Fort Worth, Texas, on 15 September. They made an intermediate stop at Lajes Air Base in the Azores Islands, which was captured on video by a local plane spotter posting under the name Lajes Field Aviation.
US Air Force pilots flew the multi-leg ferry mission, supported by US tankers.
Video posted by Lajes Field Aviation shows two US Air Force Boeing KC-135 tankers taxiing behind the flight of F-35s, which included the two Finnish jets and three Belgian F-35As bound for Florennes Air Base south of Brussels.
The Belgian air force confirmed receipt of its newest F-35As on 18 September.
Interestingly, a sixth jet was held back in the Azores for unspecified reasons, according to the Lajes Field Aviation.
The Finnish Air Force (FAF) plans to field a fleet of 65 F-35As, which will fully replace the service’s ageing fleet of F/A-18Cs. The first eight of Finland’s F-35s were delivered earlier this year but were held back in the continental US to support the initial training of pilots and maintainers for the FAF.
Helsinki says the first groups have already completed that training, with the remainder set to conclude by early 2028. After that, the service will manage its own F-35 training pipeline entirely in Finland.
“The F-35 is one of the largest capability projects of Finland’s military defence, and it has a high level of ambition,” says General Janne Jaakkola, commander of the Finnish Defence Forces. “We are building the capability to fully utilise the aircraft’s performance potential – as part of Finland’s defence system and a seamless part of the Alliance’s air defence and striking power.”
Helsinki expects to achieve full operational capability on its 64-jet fleet of F-35s by 2030. The FAF will operate both the F-35A and F/A-18C during the transition period.
The Lapland Air Wing is expected to have fully transitioned to the F-35 by early 2028, retiring its Hornets.
Karelia Air Wing, the FAF’s second fighter squadron, is scheduled to receive its first F-35s in 2028, after infrastructure upgrades at the Kuopio base are completed.
Major General Timo Herranen, commander of the FAF, says the F-35A will offer a number of improvements over the Hornet, including greater internal fuel capacity and wider operating range, a “diversifying and highly advanced weapon selection”, a stealthy low-observable radar signature and onboard jamming systems for operating in contested environments.
“The decisive advantage still belongs to the one who sees first,” Herranen says. “Low observability is not only due to the shape and surface configuration of the aircraft, but its sensors also meet low-observable requirements. These features further enable us to engage in combat together with the army and the navy.”
All of Finland’s F-35s will receive a registration number from JF-501 to JF-564, with the type designation JF standing for “Joint Fighter” in English.
An official F-35 arrival ceremony is planned for 1 October in Finland.
The post Finland’s first F-35s arrive home with full fleet expected by 2030 first appeared on FlightGlobal.