Finland Assembles First Engine for the F-35 Fighter Jet

Patria has successfully completed the assembly of the first F135 engine for the F-35 fighter jet in Finland.

Patria announced this in a press release.

Patria and Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of RTX, agreed to the final assembly of the first F135 engines in Liutyi 2026 at the company’s new facility in Linnavuori, Nokia. Production began in July 2026.

Under the agreement, Patria is expected to assemble the engines from 2025 to 2030, after which, starting in 2030, it will transition to the maintenance, repair, overhaul, and modernization of F135 engines throughout the entire lifecycle of the Finnish F-35A fleet, which is projected to last into the 2060s.

The company built a new plant in Linnavuori specifically for the assembly and maintenance of engines. The cornerstone for the new plant was laid on March 14, 2025.

“Patria’s part of the F-35 programme is progressing according to plan and has now entered full-scale production. The completion of the first F135 engine is a significant milestone and a strong start for F135 engine assembly in Finland. It demonstrates the successful cooperation between Patria, Pratt & Whitney, the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Ministry of Defence, strenghtening Finland’s security of supply and deepening Patria’s role in the global F-35 supply chain,” said Petri Hepola, Chief Program Officer, F-35 at Patria.

In addition to engine assembly, Patria also assembles forward fuselage sections and manufactures structural components, such as the aircraft’s landing gear doors.

Production of forward fuselage sections began in early March at a modernized production facility in Halli, Jämsä. The company also began assembling landing gear doors this spring.

A framework agreement with Lockheed Martin calls for the assembly in Finland of forward fuselage sections for both aircraft to be delivered to the Finnish Air Force and for international F-35 customers.

This involves 400 sets between 2026 and 2042. The same number of landing gear door sets are to be manufactured.

The first F-35A fighter jets, purchased by Finland, are expected to arrive at the Lapland Air Command base in Rovaniemi in late 2026. In total, the Finnish Air Force is set to receive 64 multi-role fighter jets in the F-35A Block 4 configuration.

Over the next few years, they will replace the F/A-18 Hornets purchased in the 1990s, which are scheduled to be retired at the turn of the 2020s and 2030s.