Finland receives first two F-35A fighters at Rovaniemi
The Finnish Air Force presented its first two F-35A Lightning II fighters at an arrival ceremony at the Lapland Air Wing in Rovaniemi on 1 October 2026, after the jets JF‑510 and JF‑512 touched down at Rovaniemi Airport at 17:45 local time on 18 September 2026 following a transatlantic ferry flight flown by U.S. Air Force pilots.1
A third aircraft, JF‑511, remained in the Azores because of an avionics fault, while Finland has now received ten of the 64 F‑35As it ordered; eight of the aircraft are temporarily based at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Arkansas for training of Finnish pilots and maintainers, and the Lapland Air Wing is slated to achieve initial operational capability in early 2028.1