Mary-Louise Hoffman
Lockheed Martin has unveiled the first F-35A fighter jet for the Italian air force at a final assembly and check out facility in Cameri, Italy.
It is the first of eight F-35As being integrated at the site and is slated to take a maiden flight later this year, Lockheed said Thursday.
Lockheed and Finmeccanica‘s Alenia Aermacchi unit jointly run the Cameri F-35 FACO center for the Italian defense ministry.
Lorraine Martin, an executive vice president and F-35 program manager at Lockheed, said the hub is also built to facilitate maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade work on F-35s for European defense customers.
Alenia Aermacchi has completed the first full F-35A wing component and will ship the structure to a Lockheed facility in Fort Worth, Texas, for final assembly.
