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F-35A fighter aircraft make historic highway landing in Finland16 Sep. 2024

US Air Force pilots in fifth-generation F-35A fighter aircraft have practised landing on a highway in Europe for the very first time. Two F-35A Lightning II fighters landed on a strip of road of about 30 metres wide in the region of Lapland (Finland), as part of exercise Baana 24, a Finnish Air Force road-based exercise, which also featured the participation of personnel and assets from Allied countries Germany and the United States. The landing was undertaken by two US Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Wing, currently based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom. The exercise provided US personnel with an opportunity to learn from their Finnish counterparts' experience and improve their ability to rapidly deploy and employ airpower from unconventional locations.