The Norwegian Armed Forces’ first Lockheed Martin [LMT]-produced F-35A is standing with weight on wheels in the assembly plant, the company said on April 16.
Lockheed Martin said this was a significant milestone as the jet moves down the production line at the Fort Worth, Texas assembly plant.
Norway’s F-35A, known as AM-1, was lifted by an overhead crane on April 9 from an electronic mate and alignment station where its forward and rear fuselage sections were joined to the wing-center fuselage assembly.
The next step is final assembly, where control surfaces, final systems, and the engine will be added and installed.
AM-1 is set to be rolled out of the factory later in 2015 along with sister aircraft AM-2. Both will initially be based at Luke AFB, Arizona as part of the U.S. Air Force’s training system. A third Norwegian F-35 is in the early production stages and is planned to be rolled out of the factory in 2016.