Finland Enters the F-35 Era as First Finnish Pilot Flies the Jet From Rovaniemi

Finland has taken another major step in its transition to the F-35A Lightning II, with the first Finnish pilot flying the aircraft from Finnish territory during an official ceremony at Rovaniemi Air Base on 1 October 2026.

The milestone follows the arrival of Finland’s first two permanently based F-35A fighters, JF-510 and JF-512, at Rovaniemi on 18 September.

For Finland, the event marks more than the introduction of a new aircraft. It represents the beginning of the domestic operational transition from the F/A-18 Hornet to a fifth-generation fighter fleet that will form the core of Finnish air combat capability for decades.

Finland begins domestic F-35 operations

The Finnish Defence Forces officially presented the first two aircraft during a ceremony at Rovaniemi, home of the Lapland Air Wing.

During the event, Lt. Col. Jaakko Sointu became the first Finnish pilot to fly an F-35 from Finnish territory.

The aircraft are part of Finland’s HX fighter programme, under which the country is acquiring 64 F-35A Lightning II fighters to replace its current fleet of F/A-18C/D Hornets.

Deliveries and training will continue progressively as the Finnish Air Force builds up operational capability with the new platform.

Initial operational capability is planned for the beginning of 2028, while the transition from the Hornet fleet is expected to be completed by the end of 2030.

Why Rovaniemi matters

Rovaniemi is strategically important well beyond Finland itself.

Located close to the Arctic Circle, the base supports the Lapland Air Wing and sits on NATO’s northern flank in a country sharing a roughly 1,340-kilometre border with Russia.

The introduction of permanently based F-35s at Rovaniemi therefore strengthens NATO’s fifth-generation airpower presence in northern Europe and the Arctic region.

Finland’s accession to NATO in 2023 significantly changed the Alliance’s northern geography. The F-35 now adds a highly networked combat aircraft capable of operating alongside other NATO fifth-generation and fourth-generation platforms.

F-35 integration in northern Europe is already accelerating

Finland’s transition to the F-35 is taking place within a broader expansion of fifth-generation airpower across northern Europe.

Norway already operates the F-35A, while Denmark is continuing to build its own fleet. Several other European NATO members are also introducing the aircraft.

Rovaniemi has already hosted allied F-35 operations.

During Ramstein Flag 2026, U.S. Marine Corps F-35B aircraft deployed to Finland and operated alongside allied fighters as NATO tested distributed air operations and integration across northern Europe.

That experience provides a glimpse of the operational environment Finland is now entering: one in which national fighter fleets are increasingly integrated into a wider network of aircraft, sensors, command-and-control systems and ground-based air defence.

From Hornet to fifth-generation airpower

Finland has operated the F/A-18 Hornet since the 1990s.

The Hornet fleet has formed the backbone of Finnish air defence for three decades, but the F-35 introduces a different level of capability in areas such as low observability, sensor fusion, electronic warfare and networked operations.

The transition will therefore involve much more than replacing one fighter type with another.

Infrastructure, maintenance systems, pilot training, weapons integration, secure communications and operational doctrine must all evolve around the new aircraft.

The arrival of the first permanently based F-35s at Rovaniemi represents the point where that transition becomes visible inside Finland itself.

Finland’s role in NATO airpower is changing

The strategic significance of Finland’s F-35 programme has increased since the country joined NATO.

Its geography connects the Baltic region, Scandinavia and the Arctic, while Finnish air bases add depth and dispersal options to NATO’s northern airpower architecture.

With Norway, Denmark and Finland operating the F-35, the aircraft is becoming a common fifth-generation platform across much of the Nordic region.

That creates opportunities for deeper interoperability in training, maintenance, mission planning and operational deployment.

For Finland, however, the immediate priority remains national defence.

The first Finnish-piloted F-35 flight from Rovaniemi marks the beginning of a multi-year transition that will eventually see the F-35 replace the Hornet as the country’s primary combat aircraft.

The aircraft are now in Finland.

The operational transformation has begun.