F-22s and F-35s are training together with T-38s, F-15Es, and F-16s, at Tyndall AFB, Fla., in an exercise aimed at bridging the gap between fifth generation aircraft and the Air Force’s legacy fleet. In addition to the fighters, B-52s and E-3 AWACS are participating in the week-and-a-half long Checkered Flag 16-1 exercise on the Florida coast, according to a 325th Fighter Wing release. “This exercise is a building block,” said Col. Joseph Kunkel, vice commander of the 325th FW and commander of the exercise. “We are at the very beginning of the integration of F-22s, F-35s, and fourth-generation aircraft. What this does is lead us to the next step and that next step is to be extremely lethal in combat.”
The U.S. military has accepted six new F-35 fighters without radars installed—but none so far for the Air Force. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Masiello, the head of the F-35 Joint Program Office, told lawmakers June 23 that the Marines have to date accepted six short takeoff and vertical landing…