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Finland's first F-35 fighter jet taking shape in US

Official completion of the first jet's construction will be marked at a US event in mid-December.

A mint-green coloured Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet parked beside an airplane factory.
Lockheed Martin has shared pictures of the F-35 on social media. Finland has ordered 64 of the fighter jets. Image: Lockheed Martin
  • Yle News

The first of dozens of F-35 fighter jets Finland has ordered from the United States has rolled off the assembly line at a Lockheed Martin factory in Texas.

Work on it is not yet complete, however.

Lockheed Martin has shared pictures of the F-35 on social media, showing the plane in a mint green shade that is set to be changed to a much darker, nearly radar-invisible, shade.

Once complete, the plane will be displayed at an official event in the US in mid-December.

Finland has ordered 64 of the F-35s, the only so-called 'fifth generation' fighter available to Western countries.

Acquisition of the fighters will cost Finland around 10 billion euros, a sum that also includes weaponry and airfield modifications.

The first of the F-35s are expected to be delivered to Finland next autumn, while the fighter jets' pilots and mechanics will be trained in the United States.

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