F-35 TRAINING PROGRAM ON SCHEDULE FOR OCTOBER 2009 STAND UP

This news and others being published around the country has the F-35 Training Program on schedule with classes beginning in October 2009 at Eglin AFB. This is more exciting news for the area and around the globe with 12 countries participating in this program and bringing their future pilots to Eglin AFB for their training.


U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Marks Another First
By AMY McCULLOUGH Published: 18 Aug 2009 10:37

The U.S. Marine Corps' version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter passed another milestone in August when it was successfully refueled in the air by a Marine KC-130.

A short takeoff/vertical landing variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II takes on fuel from a KC-130 tanker near Fort Worth on Aug. 13. The fuel transfer marked the first time an F-35 has used the Navy- and Marines-style probe-and-drogue ref (LIZ KACZYNSKI / LOCKHEED MARTIN)

The test, which took place over Fort Worth, Texas, was the first in a "short series" that will clear the way for the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant for extended-range flights, officials for Lockheed Martin, the fighter's manufacturer, said in a news release.

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"The F-35 program is on the cusp of a tremendous expansion in flight test as a large number of new aircraft enter the test fleet this year and early next year," Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin's executive vice president and F-35 program general manager, said in the release. During the tests the aircraft will upload fuel from the tanker at 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 feet - at speeds ranging from 230 to 288 mph - using a probe-and-drogue refueling system, a flexible hose that trails from the tanker and connects to the receiving aircraft with a "basketlike drogue" at the end. The Aug. 13 flight was the first time an F-35 completed an aerial refueling test using the Marine Corps and Navy's refueling system. Maj. Joseph T. "O.D." Bachmann was at the fighter's controls. The Corps is scheduled to begin fielding the JSF in 2012. The first F-35 training pipeline will open later this year at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., creating a joint training wing that will feed pilots and maintainers into the Corps, Navy and Air Force during the next five years.
The training wing, expected to standup Oct. 1, will spawn the first squadrons for all three services and create the first career paths for the largest fighter jet program in history.