The first Polish F-35 to be built at Cameri’s Final Assembly Check Out facility in Italy has conducted its first functional test flight.
The first Polish Air Force F-35A Husarz (as the Lightning II has been designated in Poland) to be built in Italy has conducted its first functional test flight. The milestone follows the arrival of the first F-35s, built at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth plant in Texas, at Łask Airbase on May 22, 2026.
Aviation photographer Diego Mor captured a photo of the aircraft as it returned from the first flight and kindly shared it with us. As you can see, the F-35 is sporting the tail number “3517,” identifying it as the first of the second batch of 16 aircraft.
In fact, Poland has opted to manufacture half of its 32 F-35s in the U.S., while the remaining ones are being built in Italy. The country hosts in Cameri one of the two Final Assembly Check Out (FACO) facilities, with the other being in Japan.
Polish F-35A program
On Sept. 11, 2019, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of 32 F-35 fifth-generation jets to Poland at a cost of USD 6.5 billion, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announcement. Poland opted for the F-35A CTOL (Conventional Take-Off and Landing) variant to replace its aging Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-22 fleets.
In January 2020, a contract was signed for the procurement of 32 F-35s, with first delivery initially expected in 2024. Along with the aircraft, Poland has also acquired various weapon systems for the F-35, including AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles and “several hundreds” AGM-158B JASSM-ER cruise missiles.
Further weapons procurements were also approved, such as AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder missiles and AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER) missiles. The deals were signed in 2024 and 2025, respectively, followed by a deal for the AIM-120D-3 AMRAAM in 2025.
In 2021, it was decided that the Polish F-35 fleet of 32 aircraft would be entirely stationed at Łask AB in central Poland. Later, Świdwin was also selected, with the F-35s divided among the two bases.
On Aug. 28, 2024, the first Polish Air Force F-35A, designated AZ-01, was officially unveiled during a roll-out ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facilities, Texas, in the presence of Polish officials. The first aircraft to fly, however was AZ-02, which successfully completed its first test flight on Dec. 2, 2024.
The first aircraft were delivered to Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Arkansas, where Polish pilot training is taking place, as the base is used for the training of foreign military sales (FMS) customers. The first F-35s were planned to arrive in Poland in 2026, with the remainder of the fleet to be delivered by 2030.
As expected, Polish Air Force F-35s don’t sport the traditional white-and-red checkerboard symbol, replaced by a low-visibility version of the emblem. This marks a significant change, as all Polish Air Force aircraft have historically worn the full-color white-and-red checkerboard, including Su-22s and MiG-29s, even after being repainted in new all-grey camouflage schemes.
The Cameri Final Assembly Check Out facility
The Italian FACO, a 101-acre facility including 22 buildings and more than one million square feet of covered work space, housing 11 assembly stations, and five maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upgrade bays, is owned by the Italian Ministry of Defense and is operated by Leonardo in conjunction with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
According to LM, 800 skilled personnel are engaged in full assembly of the Conventional Take-off/Landing F-35A and F-35B aircraft variants and is also producing 835 F-35A full wing sets to support all customers in the program. The Cameri FACO also has the only F-35B production capability outside the United States and was selected as F-35 Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and Upgrade (MRO&U) center for the entire European region.
In March 2025, an F-35A of the U.S. Air Force, operated by the 495th FS “Valkyries,” was also inducted at the Cameri MRO&U. his event marked the beginning of the first ever planned depot maintenance of a USAF F-35A based in Europe undertaken at Cameri’s facilities.
The United States government cleared European customers to request their aircraft to be produced in Italy. Pricing and production standard are the same, as U.S. Air Force officers are assigned by the Defense Contract Management Agency in Cameri to make sure that quality stays consistent.
The main difference is the volume of the production, as Cameri builds about 15 F-35s per year and Fort Worth produces about 130. What makes Cameri’s FACO attractive is the possibility to have the initial aircraft delivered quickly, in spite of current Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) delays experienced by Fort Worth.
Lockheed Martin confirmed to us earlier this year that the FACO is currently producing TR-2 aircraft, which are not subject to the delays and will be later retrofitted to the TR-3 configuration. According to Jennings, Poland has expressed an interest in Cameri’s production for these reasons.
Thanks again to Diego Mor for the photo he sent us. Make sure to follow him on Instagram for more!
