An Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) F-35A Lightning II aircraft completed very first transatlantic ocean crossing, arriving at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, from Cameri Air Base, Italy, on February 5.

F-35A aircraft AL-1, the first international jet fully built overseas at the Cameri, Italy, Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility, was piloted across by the first Italian Air Force F-35 pilot, who completed training at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, last November and had 50 hours of flight time on the F-35 Lightning II. The aircraft will begin three months of electromagnetic environmental effects (EEE) evaluation and certification while at Naval Air System Command’s Integrated Battlespace Simulation and Test (IBST) facility.

AL-1 will join the F-35 international pilot training fleet at Luke Air Force Base in May, the first of five F-35s Italy has committed to the international training fleet there.

AL-1’s arrival in the US demonstrates Italian industry’s capability to build and sustain a fifth-generation fighter, an achievement made possible through the close partnership between US and Italian Governments and defence leadership.