Canada’s first F-35A Lightning II has completed its maiden flight at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility in Texas, advancing the Royal Canadian Air Force’s future CF-35A programme. The aircraft, identified as AR-1, took off from Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth on 23 September and was accompanied by an F-35C chase jet.
The flight moves the first Canada-bound fighter from final assembly into the test phase before it is routed to training infrastructure in the United States. Reports indicate the jet carried Canadian markings and bilingual RCAF/ARC identifiers, and the first aircraft is expected to arrive in Canada in 2028. The wider F-35 acquisition remains under government review, but the production line has continued work on Canada’s early-aircraft batch.
The CF-35A will become Canada’s designation for the F-35A in Royal Canadian Air Force service. The programme is central to Canada’s fighter modernisation effort, supporting NORAD, NATO and Arctic operations as the service prepares pilots and ground crews for fifth-generation aircraft.