Lockheed to upgrade F-35 assembly stations in Italy

Lockheed Martin will upgrade the giant assembly stations where F-35 stealth fighters are joined together at Europe’s only F-35 factory in Cameri, Italy, a plant that now builds jets not just for Italy but for the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.

The work is covered by a $9.4 million contract modification announced by the U.S. Department of War. It pays for upgrades to three of the plant’s electronic mate and assembly stations, the large computer-controlled fixtures that hold the fuselage sections and wings in precise alignment while they are joined into a single airframe. Lockheed Martin will do most of the work in Fort Worth, Texas, with about 7% in Cameri, and it is due to be finished in March 2028.

The money comes entirely from non-U.S. partner nations rather than the U.S. budget, though the announcement did not say which country is paying.

The Cameri plant, near Novara in northern Italy, is owned by the Italian Ministry of Defence and run by Italian aerospace group Leonardo together with Lockheed Martin. It is one of only two F-35 final assembly lines outside the United States, alongside Nagoya in Japan, and the only one outside the U.S. that can build the F-35B, the short takeoff and vertical landing version flown from Italy’s aircraft carrier Cavour.

The factory has steadily taken on more customers. It delivered the first F-35 ever built outside the United States in December 2015 and assembles all of Italy’s F-35s, with the country planning a fleet of 115 jets, 75 F-35As and 40 F-35Bs, of which about 40 had been delivered by January 2026. Cameri is also building 29 F-35As for the Royal Netherlands Air Force and half of Poland’s 32 F-35As, and the first Polish jet built in Italy made its first test flight in July 2026.

In August 2026, the Swiss procurement agency Armasuisse said the first fuselage section and wing for its first F-35A had been joined at Cameri, and most of Switzerland’s reduced order of 30 jets is expected to pass through the Italian plant.

Cameri can build up to 20 aircraft a year and completed 65 F-35s between 2021 and 2025, including 19 last year. It also makes about a third of all F-35 wings produced worldwide, under a commitment covering 835 complete wing sets, and serves as the main maintenance, repair and upgrade center for F-35s in Europe, with plans to expand from 13 maintenance bays to 21 by 2029. Leonardo had more than 1,000 people working on the F-35 program at the site at the end of 2025.

The contract modification, issued by Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Maryland, adds to Lockheed Martin’s main F-35 production contract and was not competitively bid. The upgraded stations will support F-35 production for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps as well as international partners and Foreign Military Sales customers.