According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is only weeks away from getting a name—final recommendations are being “closely guarded” by top Air Force officials. The paper reports that the Air Force did ask for options from the other military services and eight partner nations. The three prime purchasers of the new fighter all follow different naming themes. USAF favors birds of prey for its fighters, while the Navy has Tomcat and Hornet, and Britain’s Royal Air Force has Tornado and Typhoon.
Today’s armament maintainers are tasked with performing flightline (O-Level) maintenance with an assortment of legacy test sets that greatly limit the ability to quickly and efficiently verify armament system readiness, diagnose failures, and ultimately return the aircraft to full mission...