USAF and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force are taking bilateral interoperability to the next level with joint F-35 training.
F-35A
While NAS JRB Fort Worth-Carswell, Texas, is slated to become the primary home of Air Force Reserve Command’s future F-35As, AFRC is now reexamining three bases it has deemed “reasonable alternatives”—Whiteman Air Force Base, Mont., Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and Homestead Air Reserve Base—to ...
The Department of the Air Force has submitted a $4.2 billion unfunded priorities list to Congress for fiscal 2021, which includes roughly $3.2 billion for the U.S. Air Force and $1 billion for the fledgling U.S. Space Force. The USAF request, which is significantly more ...
The Air Force's total budget remains flat in fiscal 2021, with increased funding for space, research and development, and joint service connectivity, but declines in procurement and military construction. The budget funds an additional 1,500 Airmen, and includes a 3-percent pay raise for uniformed personnel ...
The F-35 fleet is safe to fly, despite an under-strength fastener problem potentially affecting nearly all F-35s, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen Lord said during a Jan. 31 press conference. A root cause analysis continues, but the Pentagon has "confidence in the integrity" of ...
Fasteners may have been installed incorrectly on all but a handful of F-35s ever built, but Lockheed Martin believes it's probably not worth it to go back and change out the wrong parts for the right ones. The fastener issue, first revealed by Pentagon acquisition ...
The Air Force’s F-35 operating base on Jan. 6 conducted a massive elephant walk, launching 52 jets in a row. The Active Duty 388th and Reserve 419th Fighter Wings conducted the Combat Power Exercise to demonstrate “their ability to employ a large force of F-35As." ...
Maintainers from Hill AFB, Utah, recently traveled to Japan for an F-35 maintenance symposium designed to increase interoperability at every level. Eight airmen from the 388th Maintenance Group worked with a Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-35 maintenance squadron, first discussing lessons learned and then working ...
Congressional authorizers are offering the Air Force less money in most areas than the service asked for in fiscal 2020, but want to put nearly $19 billion toward aircraft procurement, according to the bipartisan, bicameral defense policy bill, which passed the House on Dec. 11.
The NDAA funded 60 F-35As for the Air Force—12 more than the service originally requested. However, it also the Air Force to provide an aviation force structure acquisition plan by March 1 of 2020.
Thinking past the F-35.
The Pentagon on Nov. 26 awarded Lockheed Martin a $327.95 million contract for “long lead” material, parts, and components for Air Force F-35s in advance of the anticipated Lot 15 award. The advance acquisition contract covers components for some 48 F-35As for the Air Force, ...
