Production of Finland’s first F-35 fighters progressing

The production progress of the Finnish Air Force's F-35A fighters was celebrated at a forward fuselage signing ceremony of the first Finnish F-35 fighter, JF-501, in the United States on 28 October.

The production of Finland’s first F-35A fighters is underway at Lockheed Martin and its partners. The progress of the production was marked with a forward fuselage signing ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s factory in Fort Worth, Texas, on 28 October. Representatives from the Finnish Air Force, the Defence Forces Logistics Command, the Ministry of Defence, Finnish defence industry, and the US government and industry attended the event.

At the event, a component of the forward fuselage of the first Finnish F-35A fighter, designated JF-501 (Joint Fighter), was signed by personnel involved in the F-35 Programme who are also participating in the planning and review session of Finland’s F-35 Programme at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility this week.

The forward fuselages of Finland’s F-35A fighters are being manufactured in the United States. Once the forward fuselage is completed, it proceeds to the production phase where the four major components of the fighter—the forward fuselage, centre fuselage, wing assemblies, and aft section—are joined together. Then the jet moves to the final stages of assembly on the production line in Fort Worth.

The components of F-35 multi-role fighters for partner and customer nations are manufactured in several F-35 user countries under the multinational F-35 Program. In the coming years, the components of the F-35 will also be manufactured in Finland as Patria begins to produce forward fuselages and subcomponents for the F-35 Program at its Jämsä Halli facility, as part of the industrial participation within the F-35 Programme.

“I am very pleased that we are progressing in building the various capability areas of our F-35 as planned. The forward fuselage signing event is a minor but symbolically important milestone in the manufacturing process of the aircraft fleet. We will celebrate the completion of this same individual aircraft from the production line here in Fort Worth already within one year,” says F-35 Programme Director, Colonel (ret.) Henrik Elo.

Finland’s F-35A multi-role fighters are being manufactured in lots 17–22. The fighters will be delivered with system update version 3, known as the TR-3 (Technology Refresh) configuration. The production of Finland’s first F-35A fighters began in the latter part of 2023.

Finland’s first F-35A fighters will be completed in autumn 2025. The JF-501 will be handed over to the Air Force at a rollout ceremony in the United States in late autumn 2025, after which the Air Force will deploy the first eight aircraft at Ebbing in the United States for the initial F-35 training of Finnish personnel. The Finnish Air Force will receive Finland’s first F-35A fighters in Rovaniemi  at Lapland Air Wing at the end of 2026.