Belgium opts for European rather than US assembly for future F-35A buy

With its initial 34 F-35As being built in the US, Belgium has said that any future order will be built in Europe. (Benoît Denet)

Belgium is to have any additional Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft built in Europe rather than the United States, Belgian Minister of Defence and Foreign Trade Theo Francken said on 7 May.

Announced following a meeting between the minister and the international president of Lockheed Martin, Michael Williamson, the decision will see any follow-on buy of F-35As for the Belgian Air Component (BAC) built at the Leonardo-Lockheed Martin final assembly and checkout (FACO) facility in Cameri, Italy, rather than at the same primary Fort Worth production facility in Texas that is now turning out Belgium's initial 34 aircraft.

Francken shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, “The F-35 programme is a strong and effective multinational partnership. We agreed to have production of Belgian F-35 fighter jets in Europe, at the production facility in Italy. Let's do this!”

With Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland having previously committed to have their entire or a portion of their fleets built at Cameri, the US government recently decided to open up the European facility to other continental customers that might wish to use it.