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US Air Force Releases Video of F-35 Fighter Jet’s Historic, First-Ever Landing on a European Highway

The US Air Force recently released cockpit footage of one of its Lockheed Martin F-35A stealth fighters performing a road landing in Finland.

The feat occurred on September 4, when two jets from the 48th Fighter Squadron, permanently based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, landed on a pre-designated road near Ranua as part of the NATO exercise known as Baana 2024.

While it was not the first time an F-35 had completed such a landing, it was the first time a fifth-generation fighter operated by the US had performed a road landing in Europe.

On October 1, the Air Force released the cockpit footage, which shows the F-35 descending smoothly onto a two-lane asphalt runway surrounded by a pine forest. After landing, the jet maneuvers around a bend in the road, where ground crews guide it to a makeshift refueling point. In another sequence, one of the F-35s performs a touch-and-go on the same straight section of road, briefly making contact with its landing gear before accelerating in a climb over the Finnish forest. A third shot shows the two stealth fighters taking off from the road in quick succession, from the perspective of the trailing aircraft. The lead jet accelerates, showering the pilot of the second aircraft with dust and small debris from the grassy edge of the runway as he prepares to take off shortly afterward, moments before the lead jet takes off at dusk. These exercises are part of the U.S. Air Force’s distributed operations concept, known as Agile Combat Employment (ACE). 

This concept calls for the use of multiple small, austere locations to complement large bases in generating combat missions. The focus on ACE is a response to the perceived vulnerability of established air bases to long-range precision munitions, such as cruise missiles and single-use UAVs. These weapons can be launched in dense swarms to disable critical infrastructure and destroy vulnerable aircraft on the ground. In August, senior U.S. Air Force leaders acknowledged that they can no longer rely on such facilities in East Asia and Europe as ground sanctuaries for combat aircraft should a conflict break out. NATO’s two newest members, Finland and Sweden, along with Norway, have extensive experience operating fighters from remote road strips. 

Norway has already conducted road landings with the F-35A in 2023, marking the first time the conventional takeoff and landing variant of the Lightning II has attempted such a practice. In the United States, a similar feat was accomplished with the short takeoff and vertical landing F-35B variant in California in August. This variant is operated by a limited number of forces, including the US Marine Corps, the UK Royal Air Force and the Italian Navy, with Singapore also having signed on to acquire the F-35B model.