AF-8 became the second Air Force F-35A strike fighter to arrive at Eglin AFB, Fla., to support the 33rd Fighter Wing’s F-35 training mission, announced prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The aircraft flew into Eglin from the company’s F-35 assembly facility in Fort Worth, Tex., on Wednesday. It joined AF-9, another F-35A production unit, that on July 14 became the first F-35 to touch down at Eglin for bed down and use at the schoolhouse to train F-35 pilots and maintainers. The 33rd FW is building a force of 59 F-35s, including F-35As, Marine Corps F-35Bs, and Navy F-35Cs, for training purposes.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
