dailynewsnblog
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth jet is also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, and for good reason. This aircraft was not only developed as a project that included many of America’s closest allies for design input, but also to share production in a distributed manufacturing network. Almost every big name in European aerospace is included under the umbrella of the F-35 program to contribute in some way, including Leonardo, BAE Systems, Rheinmetall, and others.
The European plant doesn’t just assemble jets: the industrial alliance is composed of vital suppliers for the entire program. In addition to having one of three of the final checkout and assembly factories located in Cameri, Italy, approximately 25% to 30% of every F-35’s components are sourced from European firms. The FACO oversees the final stages of production where major sections are joined, engines are installed, and stealth coatings are applied.
Italy’s Leonardo manufactures full wing sets, accounting for roughly 38% of the airframe, for both aircraft assembled in Italy and the US. The program relies on massive production volume to keep costs manageable and creates one shared logistics pool for every operator around the world.
Shared Defense For Shared Success
The F-35’s multinational model is a direct evolution of successful Cold War-era programs before it. By further improving over traditional models where countries maintain isolated inventories, the F-35 created a global support solution where resources, maintenance, and defense industry risks are pooled. Instead of each country maintaining its own unique spare parts, the F-35 uses a single massive inventory.
This allows allies to draw from a shared pool of parts and maintenance hubs, significantly reducing the long-term sustainment burden. The F-35 program was built upon the framework laid by the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, which grew under the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon program. Today, the JSF is a highly integrated global economic and strategic ecosystem.
The F-35 program, as a result, is also famous for being the most expensive defense project in world history, with an estimated 94-year lifetime cost of over $2 trillion. The colossal scale of the JSF network serves to create and maintain a global network of competent and accessible engineers and technicians, increases the value of the industrial workshare for each member, and maintains supply chain resilience by dispersing assets across several sites.
The F-35 program relies on massive production volume to keep costs manageable and create one shared logistics pool for every operator around the world. Europe also has access to in-theater production and repair facilities now, thanks to the Cameri FACO in Italy, but also future facilities in Poland and Finland. As a result, there is no longer a need to move vital components across the Atlantic during a crisis, which would be too slow during a high-intensity fight.
The collective deterrence of the member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is strengthened in Europe by this shared structure, which translates into a comprehensive air defense shield. The continuous fleet expansion is also beneficial when replacing older aircraft like Belgium’s retiring F-16s. Current plans have up to 30 of these legacy fighters slated to be sent to Ukraine by 2028, benefiting armed forces outside of NATO that need support, which makes Europe safer for everyone.
The Cameri Air Base F-35 Plant
Cameri was chosen because it was an established aerospace site with decades of expertise supporting the Italian Air Force’s Tornado and Eurofighter Typhoon squadrons. Italy and Leonardo were collaborators from the beginning of the JSF program. The site is conveniently positioned in Italy’s industrial heartland, which also houses high-performance centers for companies such as Maserati and Ferrari, ensuring a ready supply of technical workers proficient in intricate assembly.
To secure this position, the Italian government constructed a cutting-edge, 22-building campus covering more than 100 acres. Because it integrates two essential roles in one safe area, this facility is unique. It is essential for allies with aircraft carriers like the UK and Italy since it is the only location outside of the US that can produce the F-35B model. Cameri is home to Europe’s sole Acceptance Test Facility, a specialized chamber designed to test an aircraft’s radar signature before delivery.
Beyond full aircraft, the site produces over 835 full wing sets for the global program. Additionally, in 2014, Cameri was named the hub for heavy airframe maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upgrade for all of Europe and the Mediterranean. The facility already demonstrated its competence by successfully shipping aircraft to the Netherlands and Switzerland, and it most recently received the first US Air Force F-35 for major maintenance.
Before The F-35 Vs. After: How Air Combat Changed
Examining a paradigm shift in air warfare.
Italian Manufacturing Is Powering European Air Power
The growth of the F-35 fleet has been significantly accelerated by the Cameri FACO, which serves as the only international production hub for the highly complex F-35B variant. Alongside producing aircraft for Italy, Cameri is also set to build 29 for the Netherlands.
It has already delivered dozens of jets to these nations, including the first non-Italian aircraft in 2019. Cameri is expecting even more business now as the US government has recently cleared European customers to request their jets be built at Cameri to bypass delays in Texas. Stealth standards are among the most guarded secrets.
The US has shown full confidence and deep trust in Italian industrial security, as it requires exposing those sensitive technical benchmarks. To keep up with the fleet’s growth, the facility is tripling its maintenance capacity, expanding from five to 17 maintenance bays with the potential for more.
The recent groundbreaking of Europe’s first F-35 Lightning Training Center at Cameri will provide the simulators and engineering data needed to train the next generation of allied pilots and maintainers. Full Mission Simulators will replicate the F-35’s cockpit, sensors, and classified battle networks, allowing pilots to practice complex missions without leaving the ground.
Can The F-35’s Software Really Be Jailbroken?
How hackable is a 5th-Gen fighter?
One Platform For The Fight Of Tomorrow
The F-35 serves as a link between allied forces from a strategic standpoint. With a production run of around 3,000 aircraft, the F-35 program seeks to replace about a dozen obsolete aircraft types in more than 19 countries. Lowering unit costs to compete with older fourth-generation fighters is primarily motivated by this high volume.
The F-35 is referred to as the fight’s quarterback because all coalition F-35s share the same sensor fusion and secure datalinks. A Finnish F-35 can smoothly transmit real-time target data with a British carrier or an American Aegis destroyer. The extensive use of a single platform creates a cohesive front. Adversaries face a consistent, high-end threat across all theaters, making it impractical to exploit gaps in partner capabilities.
The widespread adoption of the F-35 allows NATO to deploy 5th-generation airpower rapidly to regions like the Baltic or Black Sea. By 2030, Europe is expected to host over 450 F-35s, creating a unified fleet that can share real-time sensor data across different national services to defeat modern air defenses. European F-35s can cross-service across borders. In practice, this means Dutch maintainers can launch US or Norwegian F-35s and vice versa, as demonstrated in recent exercises in Germany and Norway.
Here’s Why The Marines Corps Is Scattering F-35Bs Across Tiny Pacific Islands In 2026
Going back to Raider ops for the pivot to the Pacific.
Thunder Behind The Lightning (II): Global Air Warfare
With around 600 F-35s expected to be operational in Europe by 2030, the jet is becoming a NATO standard, simplifying logistics, training, and maintenance. The widespread adoption of the F-35 creates specific dilemmas for near-peer adversaries. The F-35’s ability to penetrate integrated air defenses and collect intelligence makes it the backbone of NATO’s defense against potential land advances as a persistent deterrent.
For Japan and Australia, larger fleets of interoperable F-35s offset China’s geographical advantage by enabling a dispersed but highly coordinated air force that can strike from any base or carrier. Large-scale exercises like Keen Sword between the US, Japan, and Australia compound trilateral integration efforts to build credible deterrence.
The sale and stationing of these jets act as a diplomatic signal of long-term strategic alignment, deterring attacks on non-NATO partners by demonstrating the scale of allied support. When nations like the Czech Republic or Greece formalize plans to join, they immediately plug into a pre-existing maintenance and training network, rapidly upgrading their domestic defense posture.
As countries transition to the F-35, their retired fourth-generation aircraft become surplus, creating a direct pipeline of advanced military aid for partners like Ukraine. This backfill strategy is a benefit to allies as they modernize their own fleets with fifth-generation stealth fighters while providing combat-proven assets to countries that can put legacy airframes to good use.
The World’s Largest Air Forces By Number Of F-35s
A closer look at some of the leading F-35 armadas around the world.
Momentum Toward Sixth-Generation Solutions
Participation enables European firms to bridge the technological gap while they wait for future 6th-generation platforms. In the United Kingdom alone, the program supports over 500 suppliers, ensuring that the local defense industrial base remains relevant and technologically advanced. By participating in a global supply chain, European partners develop domestic skill pools of technicians and engineers who specialize in stealth materials, advanced sensors, and digital-twin manufacturing.
Lockheed Martin has already proposed fifth-generation-plus upgrades that incorporate sixth-generation technologies. This includes improved stealth coatings and autonomous networking for the current F-35 fleet, allowing it to maintain dominance until the 2070s. Suppliers like BAE Systems and Leonardo use advanced digital-enterprise tools, such as AI-driven cybersecurity and software development, to modernize their entire domestic aerospace infrastructure.
Experience with the F-35 is also a critical accelerator for Europe’s two competing 6th-generation programs: the Global Combat Air Programme and the Future Combat Air System. Much like America’s Next Generation Air Dominance, the GCAP is being developed by the UK, Italy, and Japan as a system of systems, which includes a crewed stealth fighter and loyal wingman drones. The FCAS program has been slower to move ahead in France, Germany, and Spain, but it aims to create a very similar platform.
