2016-12-16 By Robbin Laird The last time I met with Admiral Zukunft was when he was working at the USCG headquarters in California and responsible for USCG Pacific operations. Later he would become Commander, Coast Guard Pacific Area as well. We had a chance to discuss his perspective on the…
2016-12-06 By Todd Miller Statistics, Milestones, Capabilities, Flight characteristics, Test protocols, Cost, Software blocks. It is easy to get lost in the complexity of the F-35 program. The combined F-35 fleet now has over 75,000 flight hours, yet for many there remains a lack of understanding. Much of this can…
12/16/2016: From left to right, U.S. Marine Corps Col. Richard Fuerst, commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Iwakuni, Japan, Kosei Nomura, director of Status of U.S. Forces Agreement Division Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Lt. Col. J. T. Bardo, commanding officer of Marine Fighter Attack Sqaudron (VMFA) 121,…
12/16/2016: We have recently interviewed the CO of VMFA-121 in Yuma in early December 2016 and will shortly publish his interview. But this story from July 2016 discusses a milestone to the process of the squadron preparing for its deployment to Japan in 2017. Six F-35B Lightning IIs with Marine Fighter Attack…
2016-12-15 By Ed Timperlake When reading a recent article on the Chinese illegal build out on islands in the Pacific, I was struck with what the images reminded me of from history. In an article on "China's New Spratly Island Defenses," published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, several digital…
2016-12-11 By Danny Lam President Trump stunned the aerospace community by calling for the cancellation of Boeing’s program to replace Air Force One with a new pair of modified 747-800s, citing its $4 billion cost. Experts familiar with the program note the cost is not out of line given the…
12/10/2016: Maintenance personnel with Air Task group 630 are able to escape the heat and distraction on the flightline at Australia's main air operations base in the Middle East. A 4K Hangar - so named because it covers an area of 4000 square feet - has been constructed to allow maintenance…
2016-12-09 : PACIFIC OCEAN (NOV. 17, 2016) The F-35 Lightning II Pax River Integrated Test Force (ITF) wrapped up its third and final developmental test phase (DT-III) of the F-35B Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant aboard amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) on November 17. The Pax River…
