First Flight For Made In Italy F-35

Italian first F-35 assembled by Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi has made a successful flight at Cameri’s Italian Air Force Base (near Novara), the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The Italian F-35 is assembled in Italy at Finmeccanica – Alenia Aermacchi’s production facilities.

The F-35 is a new-generation multi-role aircraft with stealth characteristics, namely low radar observability, produced within the Joint Strike Fighter international program, led by Lockheed Martin.

Following its participation in the design phase through teams integrated with Lockheed Martin, Finmeccanica, through Alenia Aermacchi.  Finmeccanica Group is responsible for the assembly of the airplanes for the Italian Air Force, and part of those for the Dutch Air Force.

The Cameri site is also the second production line for the wing components in addition to the main line managed directly by Lockheed Martin. The Cameri site has also been selected as the logistics support centre for aircraft in Europe.

Finmeccanica is also involved in the production of some of the aircraft’s electronic components through Selex ES.