Well, the short answer to that question is nine (not counting the good ol' US of A, of course). Not bad at all for a warbird that is so maligned by the media and political pundits within its own country of manufacturer, eh? 5th Generation vs 4th Generation fighter showdown time again. How do Lockheed Martin's F-35 and F-16 stack up against each other? That nine-figure is only counting the nations that have already taken possession of the F-35, not the nine other countries who have placed orders but are still awaiting actual delivery (Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Poland, and Switzerland awaiting the F-35A; Singapore awaiting the F-35B) But like I've said before, our dearly beloved readers of Simple Flying don't turn to our website to read articles consisting of a mere one or two short sentences.
Accordingly, Simple Flying now delves a bit deeper into the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers of the current pride & joy of Lockheed's famed "Skunk Works" division. This article draws partially upon the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA) for the statistical data herein. Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) The RAAF has 22 F-35As, spread out across three operational squadrons: RAAF Base Williamtown, located 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.
2 mi) north of Newcastle (not to be confused with the English city that produces the famous brown ale of the same name) in the local government area of Port Stephens, in New South Wales RAAF Base Tindal, loca.