F-35 PROGRAM TO HAVE A BIG YEAR AT EGLIN IN 2012

Okay my readers. I have warned you before. The Army families continue to make arrangements to move to the area and make home choices. On the heels of the 7th Special Forces, we know have the F-35 Training Squadron ramping up in a big way (See below). Not only do you have the military folks of the F-35 Training Squadron arriving, you also have Lockheed Martin and other supporting defense contractors arriving as well and setting up shop. Spent the day with some of my fellow Building Industry Association of Okaloosa/Walton Board Board of Directors today to prepare for the 2012 Parade of Homes and saw a lot of building, but nothing close to the numbers needed. Oh yea, did I remind you the number of local housing units was drastically reduced during this growth period and the military no longer has a mandatory assignment policy. This sure does make you want to think, “Where in the heck are all these people going to live”. The mass amount of 2012 military orders will be coming out soon and folks will be learning about their new duty station. This is on stop of all this other stuff, as well. Interesting.

F-35s expected: 'This is a big year in the program'
DUSTY RICKETTS / Daily News
2012-02-01 16:45:24
FORT WALTON BEACH — Eglin Air Force Base now has the largest fleet of F-35s in the world, and that’s a status it will maintain until the end of the decade.Representatives from Lockheed Martin’s F-35 team met with local media Wednesday to present a program-wide update on the Joint Strike Fighter. If you look at what’s on schedule for Eglin in 2012, we’re going to deliver you 20 jets,” said Stephen O’Bryan, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program integration. “You’re going to deliver the first international jets here to the U.K. and the Netherlands and you’re going to see the flying begin on both the F-35A and on the F-35B, and you’re going to have all three variants here. “This is the home of the F-35,” O’Bryan added. “This is a big year in the program and Eglin is a big part of it. Eglin now has nine F-35s — six of the conventional takeoff and landing A variants and three of the short takeoff and vertical landing B variants, which arrived last month.Another 17 F-35s are scheduled to be delivered this year, including the base’s first F-35C, which is designed to take off and land on an aircraft carrier. Eglin’s final 33 F-35s are expected to arrive by the end of next year. All the jets to be based at Eglin have begun to be built at Lockheed’s Fort Worth-based aeronautics center. Eglin’s 59 F-35s are expected to remain the largest fleet of the fifth generation multi-role fighters until the end of 2019, when Marine Corps Station Yuma is expected to overtake it. The next F-35 is expected to be delivered to Eglin in March, O’Bryan said. J.R. McDonald, Lockheed’s vice president of corporate domestic business development, said pilots at Eglin have been conducting engine runs and taxiway tests. However, he said he is not sure when the Air Force and Navy will give the go-ahead for the F-35s to begin test flights. “The biggest difference between the Eglin flying and all the other flying that’s going on out there (at other sites) is those airplanes are monitored airplanes,” McDonald said. “They are specially designed test airplanes that are giving data to control rooms where there are teams of guys watching them fly. These (at Eglin) will be the first on-your-own flying airplanes, which is why we’re making sure everyone is comfortable before we start doing that.”