A San Clemente Long Range Raid Exercise: Marines Test New Approaches and Technologies

04/21/2014
04/21/2014: The Marines are engaged in a series of exercises to re-shape the capability of the ground combat element to operate with much greater situational awareness prior to disembarking from the Ospreys for a mission.  This is also required because of the amount of time the GCE might have on…

Marand Australia Celebrates First Australian F-35 Vertical Tail Delivery

04/09/2014
04/09/2014: The classic fighter import program for a country the size of Australia is to build for the domestic customer, the program ends, you do a little bit of sustainment work and then move on. With the F-35 as a global program, a domestic supplier can position itself for global…

Visiting the Wedgetail Squadron at Williamtown RAAF Base, Australia

03/06/2014
03/06/2014: Second Line of Defense visited the Wedgetail squadron on March 6, 2014 and discussed the standup of the Wedgetail squadron and its initial roll out and path towards changes in the RAAF capabilities over time. A report on the discussion along with the key themes generated from that discussion…

First F-35 British STOVL Vertical Landing

03/05/2014
03/05/2014: Footage of RAF pilot Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols performing the first uniformed British STOVL operation in the F-35 Lightning II at Eglin Air Force Base.  Credit: Hurlburt Field : 2/27/14  And a piece by Lauren Sage Reinlie published 2/25/14 The jet shot through the sky, as jets tend to…

Dutch F-35 Flight: 2nd Foreign Operator of the F-35

01/07/2014
01/06/2014: Video shows Dutch pilot flying the F-35 at Eglin AFB. Credit: 33rd Fighter Wing:12/18/13 Maj. Laurens J.W. Vijge, Royal Netherlands Air Force F-35 Integrated Training Center training lead, completed his first flight after 210 hours of classroom training and 13 flights in the simulators. "The jet handles great and is very…

Eglin F-35s In All Three Variants Fly Joint Training Sorties

12/12/2013
12/12/2013: A Marine F-35B Lightning II breaks left out of a formation flight with United Kingdom F-35B aircraft over Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Dec. 4. The joint-program reached a new single-day record for F-35 sorties Dec. 4 with 45 training missions between all three models of the aircraft. The…

Cameri and the F-35: Building Out a New Manufacturing Facility

10/25/2013
10/25/2013: Located on an Italian Air Force base used for logistics, the Italian government under the management of Alenia Aermacchi (AAeM) has built a 22 building facility to support the F-35 program.  The support comes in three parts. First, there is a Final Check Out and Assembly facility, for assembling Italy’s…

First UK Operational Flight of F-35

09/08/2013
09/08/2013: The first solo flight of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) by a UK operational pilot has taken place in the United States. [slidepress gallery='first-uk-operational-flight-of-f-35'] Credit Photos: 33rd Fighter Wing On 19 March at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Squadron Leader Frankie Buchler piloted the fifth-generation multi-role stealth aircraft…