Second batch of Finnish F-35s arrives in Rovaniemi

Two more F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters arrived in Finland on Oct. 23, 2026, landing at the Lapland Air Wing in Rovaniemi at 5:56 p.m. and bringing the number of Finnish F-35s in the country to four, the Finnish Defence Forces said.

The jets, JF-509 and JF-511, made up Finland’s second F-35 delivery. JF-509 left Lockheed Martin’s plant in Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 20 and stopped at Lajes Air Base in the Azores, Portugal, where JF-511 joined the detachment for the final leg. JF-511 had been part of Finland’s first ferry flight in September but stayed behind in the Azores with a minor avionics fault and waited there for the next available ferry flight.

One of the new arrivals carries a nod to Finnish Air Force history. The outer surfaces of JF-511’s vertical stabilizers feature the bison emblem of Fighter Squadron 11, the Rovaniemi-based squadron that flies Finland’s F/A-18 Hornets and is now converting to the F-35.

Finland is buying its jets through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, which shapes how they travel. The U.S. government accepts each aircraft at the factory, where ownership passes to Finland, but the jet stays under U.S. control until it reaches Finland, and the United States plans and runs the ferry flights. Those long transatlantic flights need aerial refueling, so the F-35s typically travel in multi-aircraft detachments with tankers and fighters from other nations. Finland’s first two jets, JF-510 and JF-512, were flown by U.S. Air Force pilots and supported by two KC-135 Stratotankers from the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall when they arrived on Sept. 18.

Finland has ordered 64 F-35As to replace its fleet of 55 F/A-18C and seven F/A-18D Hornets. Most of the Finnish F-35s built so far remain in the United States to support Finnish pilot and maintainer training at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Arkansas, which continues until early 2028.

The program is also building an industrial base at home. Finnish defense company Patria assembles F-35 forward fuselage sections in Jämsä and on Sept. 3, 2026, presented the first F135 engine assembled in Finland at its new facility in Nokia.

JF-509 and JF-511 will now go through airworthiness and acceptance inspections carried out by the Finnish Air Force and the Defence Forces Logistics Command, and each jet will receive an individual certificate of airworthiness before it can be used for training. Maintenance training at Rovaniemi is set to begin in late 2026, and pilot training on Finnish soil is planned to start in January 2027.

The Lapland Air Wing is scheduled to fly only F-35s from early 2028, which is also Finland’s initial operational capability milestone, while the Karelia Air Wing near Kuopio is set to receive its first aircraft in 2028 and full operational capability is planned for late 2030.