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 Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
