The Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35A Lightning II fleet has reached the milestone of 10.000 flight hours, announced the air force of the Nordic European country.
Norway's first F-35A aircraft began flying even before arriving in the country, at Luke Air Force Base, in the USA. The flight of the first two aircraft took place in 2015.
However, another mark was also ed this week, which was the 4.000 hours of the F-35 fleet flying in Norwegian airspace.
The Norwegian F-35s have reach over 10.000 flighthours since the first two aircraft started flying at Luke Airforce Base in November 2015. This week they also reached 4000 flight hours in Norwegian airspace. pic.twitter.com/C7lzhS7XL4
ADVERTISING — Royal Norwegian Air Force (@Luftforsvaret) August 22, 2020
Norway became one of the first nations to the F-35 Program in 2008. The ultimate goal of acquiring the stealth fighters is to retire the F-16 Fighting Falcons.
In all, the country will have 52 Stealth fighter units. According to Def Post website, the fighters will be based at Ørland Air Station from 2022.
However, the list of nations with F-35 fighters in Europe and other countries still includes the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland (in the process of buying), Denmark, Israel, Japan, South Korea and of course the US.
