Forum: F-35 Units

...When is the first weapon firing test I wonder?

“...If all goes well, F-35B should be arriving at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in November, Robling said. But, he added, the earlier delays may keep the Marines from their goal of flying the F-35B with Block 2B software next year.

"I am not locking into any Initial Operational Capability (IOC) date because it is event-driven," Robling said. "I told Congress that a 2012 date was not likely, that a 2014 date was more likely but due to budget constraints, software development, etc., that date could move to 2015. We would obviously like to IOC as early as we can once Software 2B is approved, training is complete, aircraft are delivered and the logistic support package is ready for deployment."

Robling is adamant that he is not committing to 2015, as other media have reported. "I did not give a firm date & believe the time frame to be event-driven," he said. The Air Force & Navy declined to comment.”

“The US Marine Corps will stand up its first operational Lockheed Martin F-35B squadron this November [2012] if everything goes according to plan, a senior service official says. Prior to that, the USMC hopes to formally start training new F-35B pilots in October at Eglin AFB, Florida.

"VMFA-121 will now be the first squadron to stand-up in Yuma, [Arizona]," the senior official says. "They will stand down as an F/A-18D squadron in July once they return from deployment to Japan."

The desert base should get its first jet in November, the official says. But that is contingent upon starting up the F-35B training pipeline at Eglin, he says. There are currently two USMC test pilots flying at the Florida base, but that number will soon increase.

"We should start getting additional pilots qualified in July," the official says. "Training will still be delayed until we get at least 120 hours of maturation flying, but I am hopeful we can start training students by October."

Once the additional USMC aviators are qualified in the F-35B, those pilots will be able to help bang out [QUE? unfortunate word choice] the 120 hours quickly.

"We will be close, but I think we can do it," the official says.”

Did this happen according to schedule? We have an operational squadron training/operating right now, instead of just testing? And what else after that is the official "IOC" waiting for?

Thanks to concurrency, it would seem that the line between testing and training has blurred somewhat.

"...F-35B
Per the revised Sept 16/10 program plan, the USMC’s VMA-332 in Yuma, AZ must have 10 F-35Bs equipped with Block IIB software, with 6 aircraft capable of austere and/or ship-based operations, and all aircraft meeting the 7g and 50-degree angle of attack specifications, in order to declare Initial Operational Capability.

Flight testing began in 2009, and IOC was expected by December 2012, but flight testing fell way behind thanks to a series of technical delays. By 2013, the first operational planes were fielded to the USMC at Yuma, AZ. The USMC is currently aiming for a 2015 IOC, but it would involve just Block 2B software loads that will limit the F-35B’s combat capability. Even then, the Pentagon’s 2012 DOT&E report isn’t grounds for software schedule optimism. Planes with full Block 3 initial combat capability are unlikely to be fielded before 2018...."

"'Not a paper airplane,' says marine commander...

...the first corps of pilots to be trained on Lockheed Martin's F-35 is packing in as many hours as they can in a bid to show that the plane is ready — or soon will be. By "ready," they mean ready for active service in combat and, by "soon," they mean 2015 — or, at least, the Marine Corps does.

Other services expect it will take longer — but the marines already have their hands on 13 of the jets, while the U.S. Air Force has only nine. And they like them.

"It's not a paper airplane," says the marine commander at Eglin, Lt.-Col. David Berke.

"We fly 'em all the time. We're flying forty sorties a week around here, just in my squadron alone."..."

"Terry Milewski gets a rare look inside the highly classified F-35 stealth fighter program"