Canada’s first F-35 fighter jet takes flight for the first time

Canada’s first F-35A fighter jet completed its maiden flight Sept. 23, taking off from Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The aircraft, which carries the construction number AR-1 and will be designated CF-35A once in Royal Canadian Air Force service, flew with an F-35C acting as a safety chase plane.

The jet already carries its full Royal Canadian Air Force markings, including the bilingual RCAF-ARC lettering on its air intakes and a roundel matching those used on the CF-188 Hornet it is meant to replace. Unlike the ceremony Canada held in February to mark the start of final assembly on this same aircraft, Sept. 23’s flight passed without an official announcement from Lockheed Martin, the RCAF, or the prime minister’s office. The RCAF confirmed the flight took place but did not issue a statement.

The quiet nature of the milestone reflects the uncertainty still hanging over Canada’s F-35 purchase. Canada agreed in 2023 to buy 88 F-35A jets for roughly $19 billion as part of its Future Fighter Capability Project, a deal meant to replace the RCAF’s aging CF-18 Hornets after more than a decade of political debate. Canada has ordered 16 of those jets outright and begun paying for components on 14 more, but Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered a review of the broader purchase in March 2025 amid trade tensions with the United States, and the results of that review have not been made public.

Carney has floated the possibility of capping Canada’s F-35 order well short of 88 aircraft and shifting to a mixed fleet that could include Saab’s Gripen E, built in Canada.

The government has separately picked Saab’s GlobalEye, built on a Bombardier Global 6500 business jet, as the leading contender for a new airborne early warning aircraft that would also be built in Montreal if selected.

None of that uncertainty has stopped the physical work of building Canada’s jets. The RCAF has already stood up its first CF-35A training squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, where Canadian pilots have begun training on the aircraft. Canada has been a partner in the broader F-35 program since 2002, and the first Canadian-bound jets are expected to be delivered to Canada by 2028.