2019-09-12 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Eglin AFB, I had a chance to talk with Major Mike Byrd, USAF, a maintainer in the F-35 program about many aspects of the maintenance training process. In this interview we focused upon the weapons loading training platform at Eglin. Byrd: The…
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…
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…
As a mechanical engineer with my specialty in aerospace and fluid flow, I have helped to design and develop many various jet engines and jet engine control systems, including the GE engine in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter also known to GE as the F135 engine. I worked on the…
The F-35 JSF was designed from conception to be easily and cost effectively maintained. It has been built with parts arranged in a modular fashion, with ninety-five percent of the field serviceable parts being “one deep”. In addition, the radar absorbing skin is easier and more cost effective to maintain…
by Col. Chelsea Anderson (Excerpt) August 28, 2012 The potential for cooperation among U.S. armed forces as well as coalition forces all using the F-35 variants is significant. In fact, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force are working on their own F-35 variants and eight other countries have…
2012-08-28 These photos were taken on Friday August 24, 2012 during sorties number 199 and 200. Major Mike Roundtree flew 199, and Lt. Col. Joseph Bachmann 200. We will publish interviews done with both pilots after their flights in the near future. In a press release from the 33rd Fighter…
This slideshow provides a view from the F-35 Integrated Training Center of a day in the life of this center. The Joint Strike Fighter is born joint and the training and support approach is rooted in combing service culture with a new approach to joint training. The slideshow has been…