
Designated AL-1, the first F-35A assembled internationally flew today from Cameri airbase, Italy.
On Sept. 7, the first F-35A assembled outside the US, made its very first flight from Cameri airbase.
The aircraft, designated AL-1, is the first of eight aircraft currently being assembled at the Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility at Cameri, in northwestern Italy. As already explained in a previous post, the FACO will assemble the first Italian F-35As and the remaining F-35A and F-35B for the Italian Air Force and Navy, and build F-35A for the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
The 5th generation multirole aircraft was given the low-visibility roundel and markings of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force), as well as the 32° Stormo (Wing) emblem and code “32-01.”
During the flight, that lasted about 1,5 hours, the F-35A was escorted by a Eurofighter Typhoon.
The Aviationist’s contributor Simone Bovi took the exclusive images that you can find in this post.
The first F-35A is expected to be delivered to the Italian Air Force by the end of the year.
Want some cheese with that?
The F-35 may not be perfect (yes, it probably will never turn like a Block 30 or 40 F-16C or be as good as the A-10 in CAS), but people fail to realize one main VERY IMPORTANT POINT: The teen series jets are VERY OLD. They are running out of air-frame hours, and some are operating with certain restrictions in their flight envelope. Why do you think the Navy retired the F-14? It was because of aging air-frames and ever increasing maintenance costs. The F-15 will be next, followed by the C/D versions or the Hornet and Viper. The teen series jets were great in their era, but that time basically has past-
Point taken. But the question remains… Which is the better military aircraft? The F22 or the F35… It would have been MUCH cheaper to keep churning and producing F22´s than the F35.
This plane will make you ignorant fools eat crow just like F22 did !!!