Combat-coded F-35A to
begin dropping bombs
18 JANUARY, 2016 - BY: JAMES
DREW - WASHINGTON DC
In February or
early March, a combat-coded F-35A from the 34th Fighter Squadron at Hill AFB
will release an inert, laser-guided bomb at the nearby Utah Test and Training
Range.
What will seem ordinary and
routine to the pilot will actually be a “monumental achievement” for the
multinational F-35 programme, which has been building to this moment since
Lockheed Martin won the Joint Strike Fighter contract in 2001.
A stealthy, jet-powered combat
aircraft is nothing if it cannot put weapons on a target, and this GBU-12
Paveway II release will be a moment of truth for the conventional A-model,
which until now only released weapons in development and operational testing.
Reserve
pilot Maj Jayson Rickard of the 466th Fighter Squadron flew Hill AFB's 100th
F-35 sortie on 11 December
US Air
Force
The air force’s Block 3i
aircraft will first operate with basic laser and GPS-guided weapons, as well as
beyond-visual-range AIM-120 air-to-air missiles. It will also have advanced
targeting, surveillance and radar-jamming equipment.
The full complement of weapons
will not arrive until Block 3F in late 2017, but the armaments the F-35 does
have in Block 2B and 3i can accomplish basic close air support, air
interdiction and suppression or destruction of enemy air defence missions,
according to the air force.
“It is a monumental achievement,
because we are the first operational unit to do it. But quite frankly, I don’t
expect it to be a difficult achievement for us to accomplish,” says Col David
Lyons, commander of the squadron’s parent wing, the 388th Fighter Wing. “It
will be an ordinary mission. They will be inert, at least initially.
“The airplane can already
simulate the drop, so we simulate firing the AIM-120 and dropping laser-guided
and GPS-guided bombs every day as we practice our tactics, but to actually have
something come off the airplane – we’ve not done that yet.”
Introducing weapons into live
training is one of several steps the squadron must take to be deemed
combat-ready on 1 August, which marks initial operational capability (IOC) for
the conventional takeoff and landing model. The US Marine Corps achieved IOC
with the F-35B jump jet in July.
Because F-35s are designed to
operate in formation, Lyons says the squadron will begin practicing “four-ship”
combat tactics in March, where four airborne F-35s will train together. The
34th Fighter Sqn has been practicing four-ship tactics in its four
Lockheed-built 360° mission simulators since they were networked in December.
The
base's first F-35A touched down on 2 September
US Air
Force
Since activating in July, the
“Rude Rams” squadron has received five aircraft from Lockheed, and the sixth is
due shortly. The group expects to have 12-16 aircraft and 24 mission-ready
pilots in place by IOC.
Pilots arrive from the training
bases at Luke AFB in Arizona and Eglin AFB in Florida as trained F-35
aviators, but are qualified on the latest combat tactics at their local base.
Today, the 388th wing counts
eight IOC-ready pilots and another one is assigned to its partner reserve unit,
the 419th Fighter Wing. Its growing fleet is supported by 260 maintainers.
The aircraft will receive the
most up-to-date 3i software load, and Lyons says that will arrive on 1
February.
The local autonomic logistics
information system (ALIS), which manages the logistics and maintenance
programme, is also being upgraded. “We expect to have it in a deployable
configuration in a couple of months,” says Lt Col Darrin Dronoff, who heads the
388th unit's F-35 integration office.
The 421st
Fighter Squadron, an F-16 unit at Hill AFB, is on its final combat deployment
to Afghanistan. "Black Widows" is the third F-16 squadron in line to
convert to F-35s after the 4th Fighter Squadron
US Air
Force
The first real test of the
squadron’s ability to deploy abroad will begin in a few months, starting with
simulated deployment exercises on-ramp at Hill, says 34th unit commander Lt Col
George Watkins.
“We’re going to take F-35s from
the 34th Fighter Squadron and go to Mountain Home AFB in Idaho,” Watkins tells
Flightglobal. “We’re going to fly missions from Mountain Home as our proof of
being able to go out on the road and fly missions from the road.
“We’ll come back from that and
continue our spin up to full proficiency with a surge in July where we’ll fly
extra sorties in a surge week, so in the month of July we have enough sorties
programmed to get everyone up to combat-mission status by 1 August.”
Lyons and Watkins are both
confident of achieving IOC on 1 August, and the wing has even invited the Air
Combat Command inspector general to monitor the process.
Lyons expects the F-35A will be
called up fairly quickly, perhaps in 2017 or 2018, although there are no
deployments currently scheduled.
“It would not surprise me at all
to see the airplane used in that time frame,” Lyons says. “I don’t make that
decision; it’s above my pay grade. But once the airplane is declared IOC, it
will be available to use, and I would expect them to use it.”
US Air
Force
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