F-35B Completes First Airborne Engine Start Tests

09/07/2012
2012-09-05 [caption id="attachment_44879" align="alignnone" width="300"] Edwards Det | BF-02 Flt 213 | Dan Canin piloting BF-02 performing airstarts over Edwards AFB. Credit: PAO, Edwards AFB[/caption] (Excerpt) Edwards AFB Release The short take-off and vertical landing variant of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter successfully completed a major prerequisite test…

Evolving the Life Support System for the F-35

09/06/2012
By Robbin Laird During my visit to the 33rd Fighter Wing, I had a chance to talk with a couple of the folks involved in shaping the evolution of the life support system. Sargent Baskin and Sargent Velasquez discussed with me the challenge of evolving from the legacy to the…

The 100th F-35B Sortie

09/06/2012
by USAF Maj. Karen Roganov, Team Eglin Public Affairs U.S. Marine Corps Major Tye Bachmann, VMFAT-501 at the 33rd Fighter Wing's Integrated Training Center completed the 100th sortie of the Marine's F-35B variant of the Lightning II here, Friday, Aug. 31. [caption id="attachment_44843" align="alignnone" width="300"] 100th F-35B sortie at Eglin…

An Australian Perspective on the Way Ahead for a Pacific Strategy

09/06/2012
2012-09-06 In a wide-ranging discussion with Air Vice-Marshal (Ret.) John Blackburn, now the Chairman of the influential Australian think tank, the Kokoda Foundation, the key challenges and contributions, which Australia can bring to an evolving Pacific challenge, were highlighted. John Blackburn Biography A key opportunity for getting it right is…

An Update on the F-35 at Eglin AFB: “I was just flying.”

09/04/2012
2012-09-04 By Robbin Laird I had the opportunity to visit the 33rd Fighter Wing on August 24, 2012. I first visited the wing in January 2010, and much of what I saw this month was aspirational in January 2010.  Seeing pilots and maintainers populating classrooms, and planes on the tarmac, flying…

Indiana, Rolls Royce and the F-35

09/03/2012
August 31, 2012 According to INDYSTAR.com: It outflies the speed of sound, packs enough weaponry to flatten a small town and -- thanks to some Indiana-built technology -- has the uncanny ability to hover like a hummingbird. It's the F-35, the next-generation U.S. military combat jet, and it figures to…