Two Aerospace Eras Cross: The F-35, the Space Shuttle And Software Code

09/23/2012
September 21, 2012. Mounted atop its 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), space shuttle Endeavour launched from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., today, to complete the final leg of its ferry flight to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Lockheed Martin photographers captured this image as it taxied by an…

An Update on the F-35 Integrated Training Center At Eglin AFB

09/16/2012
2012-09-16 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Eglin AFB on August 24, 2012, I had a chance to continue my ongoing conversation with Deputy Commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing, Col. Tomassetti. In previous visits, Tomassetti showed me the plan, then the buildings being constructed, the classrooms being formed,…

Shaping the Wolfpack: Leveraging the 5th Generation Revolution

09/14/2012
2012-09-14 by Secretary Wynne, 21st Secretary of the USAF It is great to hear the excitement in the voices of the testers and the latest operators of the fifth generation fighters.   They reflect the hope for the future of air dominance that the requirements community and the design engineers intended…

The Fifth Generation Experience Updated: “The F-35 is a Situational Awareness Machine”

09/11/2012
2012-09-11 By Robbin Laird When Ed Timperlake and I wrote our piece for Joint Forces Quarterly on the F-35 and the future of power projection, we started with a discussion we had earlier with Lt. Col. Berke during his time at Nellis AFB. Then Lt. Col. Berke was flying the…

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…

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…