VMFA-121 Update

04/27/2017
04/28/2017: This video contains footage of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 conducting ordnance reload training on the F-35B’s with the engine running for the first time ever on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. U.S. Marines with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 152 conducted aviation delivered ground refueling with Marine Fighter…

Marines Conduct Hot Load Distributed STOVL Operation with F-35B

04/25/2017
04/25/2017: U.S. Marines with Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1) and U.S. Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211 conducted the first independent Distributed STOVL Operation (DSO) by flying all ordnance, personnel, and fuel in on mission aircraft at Yuma, Ariz., April 13,2017. Marines employed the manual drive…

F-35 B Course Pilots Prepare for Combat

02/15/2017
02/17/2016: Luke's first B-course students conducted their first training sortie in the F-35 getting ready for their combat deployment assignment.. LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  The Air Force’s first F-35 Lightning II basic flight course class took to the skies for the first time as they entered the live flying portion…

F-35B Refueling

02/07/2017
02/07/2017: United States Marine Corps Air Traffic Control Facilities Officer Captain Joseph Ellis discusses the F-35B Lightning II refueling exercise taking place on Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, Calif., Jan. 31, 2017. (U.S. Marine Corps Video by Lance Cpl Desiree D King) CAMP PENDLETON, CA, UNITED STATES Credit:Marine Corps…

F-35B Overview Video

01/30/2017
01/230/2017: In this video provided by All Hands Magazine and published on January 26, 2017, some aspects of the F-35B are highlighted. F-35B from SldInfo.com on Vimeo. As Ed Timperlake put it in an article published in 2012 entitled “strategic deterrence with tactical flexibility:” Every fighter pilot has had or…

VMFA-121 on the Way to Japan

01/12/2017
01/12/2017: MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, California (January 10, 2017) Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, an F-35B squadron with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, departed Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, transferring to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Jan. 9, 2017. The first location to receive the Marine Corps' F-35B,…

Marine Col. George Rowell on the F-35B at the Farnbourgh Airshow

12/16/2016
12/15/2016: Marine Col. George Rowell, the CO of VMX-1 at the Farnborough International Airshow 2016 (FIA16) discusses the visit to the Farnbourgh Airshow this past summer. VMX-1 is working the con ops of integrating the F-35B with the Osprey and the CH-53K for the MAGTF and we did interviews with VMX-1…

VMFA-121 Brings F-35B to Red Flag 16-3 For First Time

12/16/2016
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…