Yahoo TV

STORY: Immediately after landing, refuelling was carried out with the engines running, a so-called "hotpit refuelling", the Norwegian military said, before the planes took off again.

"Fighter jets are vulnerable on the ground, so by being able to use small airfields – and now motorways – (this) increases our survivability in war," Major General Rolf Folland, chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, said in the statement.

Finland, which joined NATO in April, shares a 1,300 km (810 mile) border with Russia. Norway is a founding member of the alliance. Finland is planning to buy 64 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin.

Another type of F-35, the F-35B which is able to land vertically, has landed on roads before. This was a first for this particular version of the F-35 jet, which cannot land vertically.