Finnish Air Force personnel are currently undergoing training at Eglin AFB, while extensive infrastructure upgrades and renovation works are underway at home to support the F-35s.
Exactly one year after the Finnish Air Force’s first F-35A Lightning II entered production at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility in Texas, airframe JF-501 moved out of the final assembly, the company announced on Oct. 29, 2025. The aircraft will soon receive its final paint and Finnish Air Force colors, with an official rollout ceremony scheduled for Dec. 16.
The Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) is parallelly undertaking extensive infrastructural work and training its personnel in the U.S., while officials work on the domestic defense industrial tie ups and study operations with F-35s of NATO allies.
.@FinnishAirForce‘s first F-35 has moved out of final assembly! 🇫🇮✈️ Here’s a behind-the-scenes glimpse at this important milestone. pic.twitter.com/CBvuev6D7K
— Lockheed Martin Europe (@LMEuropeNews) October 29, 2025
Finnish F-35s
Finland had signed on for 64 examples of the F-35A after it beat out an open competition with Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Saab Gripen. The aircraft will replace the 64 F/A-18C/D Hornets the Finnish Air Force has operated since 1992, of which approximately 55 F/A-18Cs and seven F/A-18Ds remain in service today.
Finnish F-35As would also come with the TR-3 (Technology Refresh 3), meant to support the future Block 4 hardware upgrades. These include a new electronic warfare capabilities, improved computing and sensor fusion with a new chipset and central processor, as well as improved targeting and weapons capabilities.
The service is expected to begin receiving its F-35As by the latter half of 2026, with the first eight aircraft delivered to Ebbing ANGB (Air National Guard Base), Arkansas. Ebbing ANGB is hosting the practical and flying bit of the training for the Finnish and several other air forces.
Airframes from JF-509 onwards will be directly delivered to Finland, touching down at Lapland Air Wing in Rovaniemi, where they will join HävLLv 11 (11 Squadron). Karelia Air Wing’s Rissala Air Base, in south-east Finland, will be the second main F-35 base and will receive its own F-35As from 2028.
Preparations to operate F-35s
On Sep. 16, the Finnish Air Force shed more light on its maintainer and pilot training program at Eglin AFB, Florida, which received that month its first batch of the ground technical personnel, led by Lt. Col. Mikko Takalo. There, they will undergo the largely theoretical and simulator-centric instruction, along with some amount of equipment handling.
Eglin AFB hosts the F-35 Academic Training Center and, following the six-month phase, the team will head to Ebbing ANGB, Arkansas, which will host the practical and flying part of the training. That base currently trains F-35 personnel from Poland, Germany, Switzerland and Singapore.
“As a part of the practical training, Finland’s first F-35A multi-role fighters will be introduced into service” at that base, said the Ilmavoimat’s press release. The team of pilots is meanwhile led by Lt. Col. Lasse Louhela.
The first group of 🇫🇮 Air Force aircraft maintenance personnel began their F-35 initial training in the United States. They will receive theoretical and simulator training on the #F35 at Eglin AFB in Florida.
Read more: https://t.co/J3v9cR93fb#ilmavoimat #F35Programme @thef35 pic.twitter.com/FSg3uMeKyE
— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) September 16, 2025
On Oct. 1, the Finnish Air Force revealed further details on the “construction and modification” work at Karelia Air Base “to meet the safety requirements of the multinational F-35 program and national operational needs.” The service explained “Air Force bases have been renovated with structures, facilities and ramps related to F-35 operations.”
On Oct. 14, the Patria Group announced the “on schedule” completion of the assembly and maintenance facility for F-35 fighter jet engines, located in Linnavuori, Nokia. The 2024 strategic partnership with Pratt and Whitney was a significant step towards both security in supply chains and generating employment.
The Patria-Pratt & Whitney pact envisages Patria assembling F135 engines and components from 2025 to 2030, and then transitioning to an “F135 engine Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and Upgrade (MRO&U) operations” facility from 2030.
The engine has been installed in Finland’s first F-35 fighter, aircraft JF-501, at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Fort Worth, United States. The aircraft is powered by one Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 bypass turbofan engine.
📸 @LockheedMartin #ilmavoimat #F35Programme #JF501 pic.twitter.com/QbTDxm74MM
— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) September 19, 2025
Training
Talking about the first batch of Ilmavoimat personnel commencing training at Eglin AFB, Finnish Air Force contingent leader Lt. Col. Mikko Takalo said they have had “a huge number of planning meetings and other arrangements” in preparation for this. “We have built the entity piece by piece. It is great to be at the point where all the pieces are starting to fall into place, and we are able to begin the actual initial training,” Takalo said.
The six-month module at Eglin AFB combines “theoretical instruction with practical training on dedicated training equipment,” the Finnish Air Force said. For aircraft maintenance personnel, the training aids include “realistically modelled components,” allowing personnel to “practice tasks such as arming the aircraft and engine maintenance procedures and inspections.”
Patria officially takes ownership of the new F-35 engine facility in Linnavuori, Nokia! 🤝
This critical step secures Finland’s domestic security of supply for the F-35 programme. Patria is now ready for F135 engine assembly and full lifecycle MRO&U.
🔗: https://t.co/XKZQ68JkNY pic.twitter.com/1P3UuIwRTZ
— Patria Group (@group_patria) October 14, 2025
The standardized F-35 training curriculum for all user countries involves theoretical, simulator and practical instruction being “carefully recorded in training databases, enabling instructors to monitor each student’s progress.” Maintenance tasks are first carried out in a computer simulator following the maintenance manual, and each action is recorded.
The same procedure is performed on the training equipment. Each trainee receives a record of the initial training, documenting the completed courses and course performance.
The Finnish Air Force’s largest live-fly air exercise of autumn 2025, #ProtectiveFence25, started today.
The exercise involves a total of circa 50 aircraft and 1,200 airmen, including Allies from the Swedish and Danish air forces. #ilmavoimat #WeAreNATO 🇫🇮🇸🇪🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/WOPMi6nVpv
— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) September 22, 2025
At the subsequent “practical training” at Ebbing ANGB near Fort Smith, Arkansas, Finnish Air Force personnel “will work with Lockheed Martin’s maintenance organization, carrying out the training as members of their team.”
“The training path thus progresses from general to specific and culminates in training on the actual aircraft,” Takalo added. The personnel completing both phases of the training will then move to Finland, where they will train other Ilmavoimat personnel.
Karelia Air Wing prepares to receive its first F-35 fighter aircraft in 2028. The Air Wing is constructing protective, maintenance, training, and storage facilities, as well as airfield infrastructure to support the transition to the new fleet. @KarjalanLsto #ilmavoimat pic.twitter.com/rfXDvPADJV
— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) October 1, 2025
Infrastructure construction work
The Finnish Air Force in its Oct. 1 press release identified “shelter, maintenance, training and storage facilities, as well as airport structures” being prepared for the F-35 system, laid out by both the service and the F-35’s manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
Agile combat employment in action! 🇫🇮🇺🇸
The United States Air Force’s F-35A Lightning II fighter jets landed at, were hot-pit refueled, and took off from the Hosio highway strip in Ranua in the #Baana24 exercise.#ilmavoimat #ImminentField24 @Laplsto @HQUSAFEAFAF @NATO_AIRCOM pic.twitter.com/K9gN9Ncve2
— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) September 5, 2024
According to Col. Samuli Tanttu, chief of staff of the Karelia Air Wing, the F-35 support infrastructure construction work is in its most “intense” phase, aimed to be completed by 2027 so it can receive the first F-35s in 2028. “The years 2028–2030 is the period when we will operate both F/A-18 and F-35A aircraft in the air force,” Tanttu adds.
