F-16 or F-35?

The total number of built and flying Lightnings for the Netherlands is now over one third

Here, serial F-016 is seen turning to land on runway 35 of Novara-Cameri's airfield. F-016 is the sixteenth Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II for the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu, Royal Netherlands Air Force) during its maiden flight on 26 January 2021.

On 26 and 27 January, F-35A F-016 (constrution number AN-16), made a total of three test flights from its birthing-place the Final Assembly and Check-Out ( FACO) line in Cameri (Italy).

At this moment, 46 Lightnings have been ordered by the Netherlands. In order to be able to perform its tasks properly in the coming half of a century, the KLu hopes that more funds will become available to order more F-35As.

Photo by Almos Castellazzi via Gianluca Conversi via our Scramble Messageboard