Australia’s first two Lockheed Martin F-35As are landing at their new home on Monday.

The new RAAF aircraft, A35-009 and A35-010, are flying into their new Williamtown base after plotting a low route along the Hunter region coastline from Port Stephens to Lake Macquarie.

The two F-35s are the first of 72 to be based in Australia, while Australia continues to train F-35 pilots with the United States Air Force (USAF) 61st Fighter Squadron’s multi-national Integrated Training Center (ITC).

The F-35 project has been plagued with problems and delays, and is one of the single most expensive aeronautical engineering efforts ever undertaken.

They touch down in wake of reports saying the ongoing costs of the scheme will continue to increase, with an estimated US$16 billion to be spent modernising the fleet of F-35 jets before 2024.

Each jet currently costs Australia around AU$100 million, but international customers are estimated to be responsible for US$3.7 billion of the ongoing modernisation costs.