2015-08-09 By Robbin Laird Pac Fleet operates in the largest area of operations for US forces. The immensity of the theater of operations, as well as the dynamics of change in the region, pose ongoing challenges of matching resources against tasks in protecting US interests and working closely with allies…
08/16/2015: 62nd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base accepting its first two F-35 aircraft. There will be 18 total F-35s joining the squadron over the next year. The jets will be flown by instructor pilots preparing for the first class of students in March 2016. The 62nd FS will…
2015-08-11 By Robbin Laird During my visit to PACFLEET at the end of July 2015, I had a chance to discuss the perspective of Colonel Jeffrey “Face” Hagan who is on the staff of Admiral Swift, the PACFLEET Commander. His role is to operate as link between PACFLEET and the…
2015-08-06 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake When Secretary Gates decided to put the F-35B on probation and Senator McCain became his powerful echo chamber we responded at the time on the pages of Breaking Defense that these actions were misguided. We have spent many hours with the pilots, maintainers,…
2015-08-08 Recently an Italian 767 Tanker refueled an F-35 in the United States. This was the first time a foreign tanker has refueled an F-35. The Italian tanker also operates as part of the European Air Transport Command and can look forward to tanking not only Italian and US F-35s…
2015-07-27 By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird “Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them” from the James Michener book Space. The quote originated from one of the legendary American Aeronautical Engineers, Jack Runckel who began with NACA before WWII and finished with NASA. As many history books state:…
2015-08-03 According to an August 3, 2015, DoD story written by Thomas Perry, the role of the Defense Contract Management Agency team working on the F-35 roll out was the focus of attention. FORT WORTH, Texas - “First off I would like to thank Col. Staphol, Col. Stathlo, Col. Staful…
2015-08-03 With the stand-up of the first operational F-35 squadron comes the IOC for the new data link for the F-35 fleet. The operational advantages of the new CNI system were highlighted by Major General Silveria of the Warfare Center at Nellis AFB. The plane has NONE of the items…
