Northrop Delivers First Fuselage for Japanese-Made F-35

Northrop Grumman delivered the first fuselage for the first F-35 strike fighter to be assembled in Japan. On Oct. 2, the company unveiled the fuselage at its Palmdale, Calif., facility. The fuselage will be a part of the first Japanese-made F-35 assembled at the Final Assembly and Checkout facility in Nagoya. The fuselage will be part of a conventional takeoff and landing variant. Consul General of Japan, Hidehisa Horinouchi, represented Japan at the ceremony. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will assemble and checkout the Japanese F-35s, according to a program office release. The milestone comes about one month after the first Italian-made F-35 took its first flight on Sept. 7 at Cameri AB, Italy.