2021 was the best year of the F-35 Lightning II’s 20-year career. This is stated by Forbes USA, in an article by Loren Thompson, which shows the positive signals accumulated by the program in the last period. In total, over 750 fighters have been delivered around the world, in the different variants designed by Lockheed Martin. In 2021, among other things, the company delivered three more devices than expected, with a total of 142 out of the 139 planned. Success comes after the difficulties linked to the pandemic, also thanks to the affirmation of the aircraft on the European market. And the European figure is particularly interesting, with the F-35 growing, becoming a central element of several continental air forces. For Italy, a positive trend both as a fighter user and as an assembly pole, thanks to the so-called “Faco” (Final assembly and check out) in Cameri, where at the moment the aircraft destined for Italy and the Netherlands are assembled. .ACCESSING NEW COUNTRIES
Last year saw Switzerland and Finland join the program, which in December ordered 64 aircraft in a nine-and-a-half million dollar deal. Furthermore, last year also saw Canada’s final decision to stock up on F-35s, bringing the number of users well beyond the initial eight expected at the start of the project. At the beginning, among other things, most of the countries that had joined the project were European members of NATO. Over time, the number has been joined by international partners from all over the globe, from Israel to Japan and South Korea. A GLOBAL PRESENCE
With the declaration of operation of the new added countries, among other things, the presence of F-35s is now widespread along all areas of possible friction and competition between great powers around the Euro-Asian periphery. The United States and its allies deploy Lightning IIs from Alaska to Australia, and the US Navy’s global presence guarantees nearly planetary coverage of the Lockheed Martin fighter. THE ITALIAN CASE
Europe remains, however, the main distribution region of the F-35, with eight nations that have declared the fighter to be fully operational. Also interesting is the position of our country, which four years ago became the first nation on the continent to declare its equipment operational. Forbes USA itself recognizes the leading role played by Italy in the fifth generation fighter program. In May Italy conducted the first Air policing mission in the Baltic with its F-35s, while in March our aircraft carrier Cavour received the declaration of operation for the “Bravo” variant, with short take-off and vertical landing (Stovl) . In November of the same year, moreover, for the first time for the first time, an F-35B of the Italian Air Force successfully placed aboard the Cavour, maneuver performed together with a counterpart in the Navy. Also according to the American magazine, the successes of our country will allow us, in the foreseeable future, to become one of the main security providers in the Mediterranean thanks to the projection of air power guaranteed by the Lightning II.THE F-35 OF CAMERI
The successes of the F-35 program on the international market represent a factor that Italy can also look at with interest from an industrial point of view. In fact, in our country, the assembly and final testing center of Lockheed Martin’s European fighter program is housed in Cameri, Piedmont. At the moment, the aircraft destined for our country and Holland are assembled here. Faco di Cameri, among other things, is one of only two assembly centers outside the United States (the other is in Japan).
