Weapons certification is the next step to moving the F-35 along to initial operational capability. The standing up of the first F-35 B squadron at Yuma Air Station in November will see the process of building a capable F-35 force begin. Weapons certification is an important step as well. In…
2012-08-03 by Robbin Laird We have posted a number of articles during the UK government's deliberation with regard to the F-35C versus the F-35B. In a PDF special report included in this article, we have brought those articles together into one report. A key element not so obvious within the…
Landing an F-35B vertically is more straightforward than it looks, and far easier than doing the same in an AV-8B Harrier, said Peter Wilson, a former U.K. military aviator who is now BAE Systems’ chief test pilot. “It’s just like magic,” Wilson told the reporters who assembled at the Farnborough…
In an interview at Eglin AFB, Lt. Col. Lee Kloos, the first non-test pilot to start his transition to the F-35 discusses the experience. Kloos has 2000 hours of flight experience on the F-16 and is a USAF Weapons School graduate. Kloos started his F-35 training at Eglin last October. …
A long-time analyst of global defense issues, he has worked in the U.S. government and several think tanks, including the Center for Naval Analysis and the Institute for Defense Analysis. He is a Columbia University alumni, where he taught and worked for several years at the Research Institute of International…
BK-1, the United Kingdom’s first F-35 Lightning II production aircraft, flew its inaugural flight mid-April 2012. Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti took the short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) jet through a series of functional flight checks during a sortie that lasted 45 minutes. The jet will complete a series of…
01/25/2012 The first night flight in the history of the F-35 Program was completed Wednesday, January 18, 2011 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Piloted by Lockheed Martin Test Pilot Mark Ward, AF-6, an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, launched at 5:05 p.m. PST and landed after sunset…
Major General (2s) Alain Faupin Born in Reims, France, (DOB Dec 4 1939) MG Faupin has completed a 40 year-military career in many operational, headquarters, staffs, education, and foreign service positions. A graduate of St Cyr Military Academy he held several assignments with cavalry and light armor with the French Foreign…
