F-35 PROGRAM ON TARGET FOR EGLIN TRAINING SCHEDULE

If you have been following along, you will see the F-35 Training Program at Eglin AFB is continuing to move foward with hundreds of million of dollars being spent to get the Training Squadron ready. As you might know, the school opened in October 2009 with some of the first students and staff arriving. If you get the chance to see the Training Squadron being built, you will be equally impressed with the progress, as you would be by the new Army Special Forces Post, just south of Crestview. To see how much money has been spent, the settlement with Valparaiso, it only makes fiscal sense to bring all of the F-35 Training Program to Eglin AFB. In these economical times, it would not makes sense to recreate another Training Squadron in another part of the county. Stay Tuned. As the Vice President of the Northwest Florida Military Officer's Association, I have the pleasure of having the program managers of this Training Program brief our Association in June, as well as, the Eglin Base Commander briefing us in May on the future growth of Eglin AFB.

F-35 program on target
Miller: Production delays won’t affect initial Eglin training schedule
By MONA MOORE Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4443 mmoore@nwfdailynews.com  

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Delays in the production of the F-35 jets will have little effect on Eglin Air Force Base’s Joint Strike Fighter training school, Congressman Jeff Miller says.
The original schedule called for instructor pilots with the 33rd Fighter Wing to start their training this year and for student pilots to begin training in 2011. After last week’s updates on F-35 production, plans for the country’s first Joint Strike Fighter pilot training school were uncertain.
In an interview with the Daily News, Miller confirmed the school’s status.
“The status hasn’t changed,” Miller said. “Eglin continues to be the site for primary training, and the first aircraft will begin to arrive the fourth quarter of this year.”
In last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the Pentagon announced that the F-35 program is over budget and behind schedule.
Eglin’s 33rd Fighter Wing already has formed squadrons and has started staffing and planning the curriculum at the training school. More than 100 people associated with the 33rd have arrived, said Ashley Wright, a spokeswoman for Eglin.
Miller said the preparations will continue.
“The school’s going to open up, but we won’t have all 59 aircraft by 2014,” Miller said.
It might take an additional year before all 59 aircraft are delivered to Eglin, he added. Miller also remained optimistic that the base would get an additional 48 aircraft.
“Our focus continues to be on Eglin Air Force Base and making sure that it is ready for the full complement of aircraft,” he said. “There’s a second EIS (Environmental Impact Statement). I expect the results to be positive and additional aircraft will come to Eglin.”