{"id":67575,"date":"2026-10-01T20:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=67575"},"modified":"2026-10-01T20:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:05:13","slug":"finland-welcomes-its-first-f-35s-with-one-of-the-best-videos-about-this-fighter-jet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/10\/01\/finland-welcomes-its-first-f-35s-with-one-of-the-best-videos-about-this-fighter-jet\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland welcomes its first F-35s with one of the best videos about this fighter jet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On October 1, the Finnish Air Force welcomed its first two F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/06\/19\/finland-shows-spanish-ef-18-fighter-jets-operating-from-a-road-in-karelia\/\">Finland shows Spanish EF-18 fighter jets operating from a road in Karelia<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/06\/17\/spanish-ef-18-fighter-jets-and-an-f-35b-with-tiger-stripes-operating-on-roads-in-finland\/\">Spanish EF-18 fighter jets and an F-35B with tiger stripes operating on roads in Finland<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ilmavoimat.fi\/en\/-\/finland-s-first-f-35s-presented-at-arrival-ceremony-in-rovaniemi\" target=\"_blank\">The two aircraft, bearing tail numbers JF-510 and JF-512, landed at Rovaniemi Air Base at 17:45 on September 18<\/a>, <strong>but the official welcome ceremony took place today<\/strong> at the airport in that city\u2014the capital of the Lapland province and known worldwide as the home of Santa Claus. <strong>This ceremony featured the first F-35 flight by a Finnish pilot within Finnish territory\u2014Lieutenant Colonel Jaakko Sointu<\/strong>\u2014a flight witnessed by guests and the media.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"F-35 \u2012 Safeguarding Finland \u2012 Suomen turvana\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3eOJDaCQxAo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Finnish Armed Forces have welcomed this fighter jet with the video shown above<\/strong> (which was screened at the event in Rovaniemi); it opens with shots of U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-35As flying alongside Finnish F\/A-18Cs. <strong>It is one of the best videos ever released featuring the F-35<\/strong>, largely thanks to the team behind it: the Finnish Defence Forces' Combat Camera (COMCAM) unit is made up of true artists who produce outstanding videos\u2014something I have mentioned here on several occasions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55562049022_8523538482_k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55562049022_ea1e08c5f9_z.jpg\" alt=\"null\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ilmavoimat.fi\/en\/-\/finland-s-first-f-35s-presented-at-arrival-ceremony-in-rovaniemi\" target=\"_blank\">The Finnish Air Force has announced that it expects to keep the F-35s in service well into the 2060s<\/a>. <strong>The welcoming ceremony for this new aircraft was attended by the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb<\/strong>; Minister of Defence <strong>Antti H\u00e4kk\u00e4nen<\/strong>; Finnish Air Force Commander Major General <strong>Timo Herranen<\/strong>; U.S. Ambassador to Finland <strong>Howard W. Brodie<\/strong>; F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Executive Officer Lieutenant General <strong>Gregory Masiello<\/strong> (U.S. Marine Corps); and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics President <strong>Orlando Sanchez Jr<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55563473840_f353a60a4f_3k.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55563473840_0864857b1b_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The event was also attended by military personnel from the Lapland Air Wing<\/strong>, based in Rovaniemi. At this festive gathering, they were accompanied by <strong>the Finnish Air Force Big Band<\/strong>, along with violinist <strong>Linda Lampenius<\/strong> (known as Linda Brava) and singer <strong>Pete Parkkonen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55563473810_13105522dd_b.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55563473810_13105522dd_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Finland has acquired 64 F-35A aircraft<\/strong> for a total of \u20ac8.378 billion. These new jets will replace the Finnish Air Force's fleet of 64 F-18C\/D Hornets\u2014veteran fighters that have earned the high regard of the country's pilots. <strong>Today, one of the Finnish Hornets performed a demonstration in Rovaniemi<\/strong> during the event welcoming its successor. Finnish F\/A-18 pilots have consistently demonstrated exceptional skill at every airshow they have attended.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55563174848_62054a02a1_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55563174848_e6705dc184_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ilmavoimat.fi\/en\/-\/finland-s-first-f-35s-presented-at-arrival-ceremony-in-rovaniemi\" target=\"_blank\">The Finnish Air Force has highlighted that Europe will soon possess more than 700 fifth-generation fighter jets<\/a>, <strong>and has noted the versatility of the F-35's sensors and weapon systems<\/strong>, which will help enhance existing capabilities for protecting Finnish airspace and supporting operations by other branches of the Defence Forces.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55562049012_ff2301840f_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55562049012_ae192d6a48_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Major General Timo Herranen noted: <em>\"T<strong>he F-35 was chosen because it is designed for an environment like ours.<\/strong> Flying the F-35, our pilots can do the mission and come home to fly the next round. <strong>A fifth-generation aircraft that can see farther but not be seen<\/strong>, share information faster, strike accurately and survive longer is not a luxury here. It is a requirement\"<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55563072486_4a62818083_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55563072486_f77ae9008a_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Finnish Air Force has announced that it expects new F-35 deliveries this autumn.<\/strong> The aircraft will reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in early 2028, <em>\"by which time the Lapland Air Wing will have introduced the F-35 into service and will operate the type exclusively. <strong>The Karelia Air Wing is scheduled to receive its first F-35s during 2028.<\/strong> Full operational capability (FOC) will be achieved by the end of 2030. Until then, <strong>the Finnish Air Force will operate the F\/A-18 Hornet and F-35A Lightning II fleets in parallel<\/strong>.\"<\/em><\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Photos: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ilmavoimat\/posts\/pfbid0ZMRNEBf5G6ndMsbdT58hswye5BuLevibhsfVayqVkuMQRr7tAicZm6GtATUj6vm5l\" target=\"_blank\">Ilmavoimat - Flygvapnet<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 1, the Finnish Air Force welcomed its first two F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19630,15961,11546],"tags":[27983,27984,13611,18261,18739,27988,27986,27990,27995,18266,27996,27991,7072,7281,27987,27992,18659,27985],"class_list":["post-67575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1a-plana-defense-eng","category-bloque-6-english","category-military-aviation","tag-alexander-stubb","tag-antti-hakkanen","tag-finland","tag-finnish-air-force","tag-finnish-defense-forces","tag-gregory-masiello","tag-howard-w-brodie","tag-jaakko-sointu","tag-karelia-air-wing","tag-lapland","tag-lapland-air-wing","tag-linda-lampenius","tag-lockheed-martin-f-35-lightning-ii","tag-mcdonnell-douglas-fa-18-hornet","tag-orlando-sanchez-jr","tag-pete-parkkonen","tag-rovaniemi","tag-timo-herranen"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-08 22:23:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}