Rheinmetall prepares to turn out first F-35 fuselages

Rheinmetall is to build F-35 fuselages at new Weeze facility in Germany (Northrop Grumman)

Rheinmetall is to shortly begin building fuselage sections for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) at its newly completed Weeze production facility in Germany.

Lockheed Martin announced the impending milestone on 3 July, saying that centre-fuselage production is to commence later in the month.

The plant in the Kleve district of the North Rhine-Westphalia region is part of a wider industrial offset package for Germany following the country's decision to acquire 35 F-35A aircraft for the Luftwaffe.

“One of Europe's most modern factories in military aircraft construction has emerged on the Lower Rhine – in less than one-and-a-half years of construction time. In the future, up to 36 fuselage centre sections for the F-35 fighter jet will be manufactured here annually,” Rheinmetall said. It will turn out a total of at least 400 F-35A centre-fuselage sections for the wider international programme in all.

Northrop Grumman, which is currently responsible for building centre-fuselage sections for the international F-35 programme, is to replicate its automated manufacturing technologies for the line in Weeze.

For more information on the European F-35 programme, please see Paris Air Show 2025: Lockheed Martin lauds European milestones for F-35 programme .