Norway becomes first F-35 nation to complete its programme of record

Norway has become the first partner nation in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme to complete its programme of record for the jet, Lockheed Martin announced on 1 April 2025.

The JSF fleet of the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) was completed with the delivery of the air force’s 51st and 52nd F-35As.

Norway selected the F-35 in 2008 and placed an order for its first two aircraft on 14 June 2012. The first Norwegian F-35 was rolled out of Lockheed Martin’s facility in Fort Worth, Dallas, on 22 September 2015 and the first three RNoAF F-35s arrived in country in November 2017. The type reached an initial operating capability with the RNoAF in November 2019.

“The F-35 is the world’s best fighter jet and I am very pleased that we will receive the last of the 52 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin that Norway has ordered,” Norwegian Defence Minister Tore O Sandvik was quoted as saying in a Lockheed Martin press release. “The aircraft ensure that we can safeguard Norwegian sovereignty and maintain even better control over our areas on land, at sea and in the air.”

The RNoAF’s F-35A fleet is mainly based at Ørland Main Air Station in central Norway, although Evenes Air Station in northwest Norway is also used as a forward F-35 base for quick-reaction alert duties and in June 2024 the underground hangars at Bardufoss Air Station, further north, were reactivated for use by F-35s.

Beyond the F-35’s service with the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, the type has been selected by 19 other nations. The global F-35 fleet has now surpassed 1,150 aircraft.