Finland’s Patria will shortly begin work to stand up a new production line for landing gear doors on the Lockheed Martin F-35.
Part of a range of industrial offsets related to Helsinki’s selection of the F-35 as its future fighter in 2021, Patria’s participation in the programme is the subject of a memorandum of agreement with the US manufacturer.
Under that agreement, Patria will produce 400 landing gear door sets for the global F-35 fleet at its Halli facility in Jamsa, located around 120 miles north of the Finnish capital.
The latest pact adds to a previous deal, signed in 2023, that will see the Finnish manufacturer assemble 400 F-35 forward fuselage sections.
“This long-term agreement for manufacturing of 400 sets of F-35 landing gear doors is an important addition to Patria’s future capabilities,” says Petri Hepola, chief programme officer, F-35 at Patria.
Patria says the project will “provide decades of high-technology manufacturing work and enable Finnish industry to prepare for future operational and sustainment opportunities”.
Selected through Helsinki’s HX fighter programme, a total of 64 F-35s will from 2025 begin to replace the Finnish air force’s current fleet of 55 Boeing F/A-18C/D Hornets.
