First F-35As arrive in Finland
A screenshot from a Finnish Air Force video showing the arrival into the country on 18 September 2026 of the first F-35A. (Finnish Air Force)
The first Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for Finland arrived at Lapland Air Wing in Rovaniemi on 18 September 2026.
The Finnish Air Force announced the milestone on the same day, heralding the arrival of the first two of 64 F-35A aircraft that will replace the service's 55 Boeing F/A-18Cs and seven F/A-18D Hornet fighters.
News of the arrival came 10 months after Lockheed Martin rolled out the first F-35A for Finland during a ceremony at the manufacturer's Fort Worth facility in the United States in December 2025. Initial aircraft were transferred to Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) in Florida where they are being used for Finnish pilot and maintainer training.
Finland selected the F-35A as its F/A-18 replacement under the HX fighter replacement competition. The EUR10 billion (USD11.5 billion) budget for HX included the cost of acquiring the aircraft, infrastructure, training, and support from the roll-out of the first aircraft in 2025, through the declaration of initial operating capability (IOC) in 2027 and full operating capability (FOC) in 2030. After this time, support and sustainment funding will move from the acquisition to the operations budget.
Finland's F-35As are being manufactured in Lots 17–22, and are to be delivered at the Technical Refresh-3 (TR-3) standard that enables the Block 4 capability.
For more, please seeAnalysis – Lightning strikes: F-35 continues to storm Europe .
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