F-35s have returned to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, for two weeks of training in a deployed setting. The F-35s, assigned to the 61st Fighter Squadron at Luke AFB, Ariz., arrived at the Idaho base on Sept. 10 and will “practice identifying ground radar sites, which is a capability that Luke doesn’t have,” 366th Fighter Wing spokesman TSgt. Joe Woolston told Air Force Magazine. The aircraft will return to Luke on Sept. 24. Mountain Home was the site for the major deployment test for F-35s, when seven of the jets deployed from Hill AFB, Utah, to the Idaho base for two weeks in June to prove the aircraft can fight in a deployment setting.
Earlier this spring, the 388th Fighter Wing proved just 12 Airmen can operate an F-35 contingency location, refueling and rearming the fighters at spots across Georgia and South Carolina. The demonstration, part of exercise Agile Flag 23-1, marks yet another proof of concept for the Air Force’s plan to send…