Ten F-35Bs will deploy to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, in January 2017, a Pentagon official confirmed Wednesday. The deployment, reported by the Kyodo news service, will be the first overseas deployment for the F-35B, the first squadron of which was declared operational in August 2015. Iwakuni is host to Marine Corps F/A-18 fighters, which will eventually be replaced by F-35Bs at the base. The deployment is part of a familiarization for both pilots and base ground crews. Further deployments to Iwakuni are expected later next year.
The U.S. continued to move a significant amount of airpower toward the Middle East in recent days as talks to forge a nuclear deal with Iran hung in the balance. Flight tracking data indicate there was unusually heavy movement of dozens of fighter jets and other assets that might be…
