Glendale officials hope Luke Air Force Base air show will in

[spazsinbad]

Glendale officials hope Luke Air Force Base air show will include F-35 By Paul Giblin The Republic 03 Mar 2014
"Luke Air Force Base’s first F-35 Lightning II fighter jet has yet to arrive for its official party — the base’s air show on March 15 and 16.

However, Air Force officials and Lockheed Martin executives are hopeful that if technical issues keep the plane in Fort Worth, Texas, where it was built, Luke’s second F-35 will fly to Arizona in time for the event.

The stealth fighter was intended to be the namesake attraction for the air show, called Lightning in the Desert....

...“We are confident one of those jets will be the aircraft on display for the March 14 ceremony. It isn’t rare for one jet to pull ahead of another on the delivery schedule for a wide variety of reasons,” he said.

Luke’s first F-35 was the 100th built....

...Lockheed Martin refers to Luke’s first F-35 as AF 41, because it was the 41st built for the Air Force. Likewise, the manufacturer calls Luke’s second new plane AF 42...."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/glen ... elays.html

[spazsinbad]

F-35 arrives at Glendale's Luke Air Force Base 10 Mar 2014 Paul Giblin, The Republic
"Air Force test pilot Col. Roderick Cregier guided Luke Air Force Base’s first F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter jet on a couple of slow, low loops through the Arizona sky before landing the plane and simultaneously launching a new era for the 72-year-old installation in Glendale....

...The matte gray plane with tail number LF 5030 is the first of what is expected to be 144 of the supersonic jets assigned to the base during the next decade.

Luke officials expect additional F-35s to arrive a couple of times a month until the base has six squadrons of 24 planes each. They anticipate receiving about 15 more of the jets during the rest of 2014....

...The new F-35 will be on public display during the air show. Hanna said Air Force officials are trying to arrange a flyby by other F-35s during the event as well.

Luke’s first F-35 will remain grounded during the air show. After the event, Cregier will take the plane to Edwards Air Force Base in California for additional testing.

It will return to Luke sometime later, said Lt. Col. Michael “Jeb” Ebner, commander of Luke’s first F-35 unit, the 61st Fighter Squadron."

SOURCE: http://www.azcentral.com/community/glen ... -base.html

[spazsinbad]

First F-35 arrives at Luke Air Force Base in time for air show 10 Mar 2014 Glendale Star
"...Luke Air Force Base was chosen as a site in 2010 to train pilots on the next generation of fighter jets, ensuring that the base remains open as the U.S. military continues its process of downsizing by closing and realigning bases.

The base has been preparing for the arrival of the jet with extensive construction, including a 145,000-square-foot academic training center, which is nearly completed.

The training center will house administrative offices along with training classrooms.

“We have been doing extensive construction preparing for the jets,” Hinderliter said. “(The training center) will include pilot academic training classrooms, 12 simulators, a secured briefing auditorium and space for administrative, instructor and engineering personnel.”

The size of the training facility will be the largest facility on the base when it opens, and preparations have been speeding up for the past few months for future training to begin.

“While we expect to do some flying and informal training, likely a month or so after the jet arrives, formal syllabus training is likely to begin in May,” Hinderliter said. “All trainings will occur after construction of the training center is complete. Our F-35 pilots at the 61st Fighter Squadron are maintaining their currencies by regularly traveling to Eglin AFB, Fla., where they fly sorties and train in simulators. They are also preparing the squadron by taking care of the administrative tasks necessary to integrate their mission with our F-16 flight operations.”...

...Once all the jets are delivered to Luke, there will be 15 U. S. and two Australian jets housed at the base...."

SOURCE: http://www.glendalestar.com/news/articl ... 963f4.html

[Corsair1963]

First F-35 arrives at Luke Air Force Base in time for air show 10 Mar 2014 Glendale Star
"...Luke Air Force Base was chosen as a site in 2010 to train pilots on the next generation of fighter jets, ensuring that the base remains open as the U.S. military continues its process of downsizing by closing and realigning bases.

The base has been preparing for the arrival of the jet with extensive construction, including a 145,000-square-foot academic training center, which is nearly completed.

The training center will house administrative offices along with training classrooms.

“We have been doing extensive construction preparing for the jets,” Hinderliter said. “(The training center) will include pilot academic training classrooms, 12 simulators, a secured briefing auditorium and space for administrative, instructor and engineering personnel.”

The size of the training facility will be the largest facility on the base when it opens, and preparations have been speeding up for the past few months for future training to begin.

“While we expect to do some flying and informal training, likely a month or so after the jet arrives, formal syllabus training is likely to begin in May,” Hinderliter said. “All trainings will occur after construction of the training center is complete. Our F-35 pilots at the 61st Fighter Squadron are maintaining their currencies by regularly traveling to Eglin AFB, Fla., where they fly sorties and train in simulators. They are also preparing the squadron by taking care of the administrative tasks necessary to integrate their mission with our F-16 flight operations.”...

...Once all the jets are delivered to Luke, there will be 15 U. S. and two Australian jets housed at the base...."

SOURCE: http://www.glendalestar.com/news/articl ... 963f4.html

Really, getting confused between Eglin and Luke??? As it was my understanding F-35 Training was going to be centralized at Eglin.

[spazsinbad]

At the beginning and then the services go to their own training bases. USMC to 'Beaufort'? USAF to 'Luke' with USN yet to decide. So for example training will still be at Eglin for odds and sods including USN whilst the hardcore USMC & USAF go to the above. Perhaps some initial basic training will be at Eglin for all - on that score I am not sure. I actually do not need to know because I have not applied.

[Corsair1963]

At the beginning and then the services go to their own training bases. USMC to 'Beaufort'? USAF to 'Luke' with USN yet to decide. So for example training will still be at Eglin for odds and sods including USN whilst the hardcore USMC & USAF go to the above. Perhaps some initial basic training will be at Eglin for all - on that score I am not sure. I actually do not need to know because I have not applied.

So, would RAAF Pilots start at Eglin then go to Luke before going back to Australia???

[spazsinbad]

Yes I think that is the plan for RAAF pilots and probably the rest - basic at Eglin and then they go for advanced training at appropriate bases. However I'm not certain of those arrangements for others. By 2020 or a few years after the RAAF will train their own in Australia after the first Op Squadron is online. That aspect (of training eventually in Australia) has been covered earlier. However I do not plan to be a typing encyclopedia of info about everything and anything to do with the F-35 so I will have to look it up.

Some USAF training gobbledegook (to me) jargon here: http://www.sldinfo.com/training-f-35a-p ... -35-fleet/
__________________

This PDF (also online) has a bunch of US stuff:

The F-35 Readies For Takeoff Gabe Starosta
"...Pilots and maintainers from the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and the F-35 program’s international partners all will
go through initial training at Eglin before moving on to more advanced, service-specific training at other locations. For the Air Force, that site is Luke AFB, Ariz.

“There’s about a two-year process to stand up a training base, and within that two years, the large majority of it is all of
the construction that has to be done,” Dunlop said. According to the current Air Combat Command beddown plans, the first F-35s will arrive at Luke in January 2014. “It’s not terribly far away,” Dunlop noted.

Luke initially will receive 72 F-35A jets broken into three training squadrons of 24 aircraft. The Air Force conducted an
environmental impact statement that verified the base can support as many as 144 strike fighters—enough for six squadrons.

In the near future, the Air Force also will set up its first two operational F-35 units where pilots trained at Eglin and Luke
can transition.

Those units are likely to be located at Hill AFB, Utah, and Burlington Arpt., Vt."

SOURCE: http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArch ... lIssue.pdf

[spazsinbad]

First F-35 Arrives at Luke AFB 10 Mar 2014

[SpudmanWP]

IIRC they are splitting up the later stages of training due to Environmental & Noise concerns at Eglin.

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

WAHOOO!! It's finally here! I wonder how well DAS will do when the ambient temp hits 120? Blacktop 150+

[spazsinbad]

SWP, I thought the concept was 'basic F-35 training at Eglin' then 'advanced / weapon / tactical training appropriate to the air arm' at appropriate bases. For example my flying training was with the RAAF to wings stage then I went back to the RAN FAA for my advanced training and operations.

[spazsinbad]

Four years in the States for these would-be RAAF instructor pilots (helping to train RAAF and other pilots).... I cannot be sure of details unless publicly reported (and they may be) so I'll imagine that these chaps go to Eglin AFB for basic/ground school then swan up to Luke AFB for the rest?

Top Gun veterans learn to fly RAAF’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighters 11 Mar 2014 Neil Keene
"SAY hello to Top Gun 5.0. Veteran fighter pilots Andrew Jackson and David Bell are the two men at the tip of the spear as the RAAF shifts ­towards its next-generation combat aircraft, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The two Squadron Leaders, based at RAAF base Williamtown near Newcastle, will be the first Australians to fly the multi-billion dollar machine, billed as the most tech-heavy fighter plane on the planet.

They will spend four years at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona, first learning how to fly the fifth-generation fighters.

They will then instruct other Aussie pilots as they filter through in the lead-up to the F-35’s gradual deployment here from 2018....

...AVM Osley, a veteran fighter pilot himself, said older aircraft ­required up to 90 per cent of a pilot’s concentration and effort, both to fly and interpret incoming information.

He said the F-35 would take less than 10 per cent, leaving pilots more time to make strategic decisions."

SOURCE: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/top- ... 6851789114

[SpudmanWP]

SWP, I thought the concept was 'basic F-35 training at Eglin' then 'advanced / weapon / tactical training appropriate to the air arm' at appropriate bases. For example my flying training was with the RAAF to wings stage then I went back to the RAN FAA for my advanced training and operations.

I am not sure of the exact schedule breakdown (what type of training will be done where), but Eglin was originally slated to get 113 F-35s as part of the training center.



I know that they are getting at least 59 (3 squadrons), but may get more later.

[spazsinbad]

I do not have a reference at moment but was not it said somewhere that the smaller number at Eglin AFB was the limit due to noise/environmental constraints?

A quick scan of this PDF sees '59 F-35s' mentioned a zillion times. Perhaps LUKE is now the bigger training base at 144 eventually (however for Air Forces)?

Revised Draft Supplmental ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
FOR F-35 BEDDOWN AT EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2013

"...the SEIS includes the 59 F-35 aircraft, the associated cantonment construction, and 18 limited flight training operations that would be implemented at Eglin Main Base as 19 described in the February 2009 ROD, which includes limitations for flight operations on 20 RW 01/19. The No Action Alternative includes the beddown of three squadrons: an Air 21 Force squadron with 24 F-35A aircraft, a Marine Corps squadron with 20 F-35B aircraft, 22 and a Navy Fleet Replacement squadron with 15 F-35C aircraft...." page 14

SOURCE: http://www.eglin.af.mil/shared/media/do ... 13-099.pdf (4.4Mb)

Eglin AFB F-35 fleet exceeds 2K sorties, training presses on 15 Aug 2013 Maj. Karen Roganov, 33rd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

"...Luke AFB’s first joint strike fighters are scheduled to arrive in spring 2014 with plans to grow to 144 aircraft in the out years....

...In the upcoming years, when operating at full capacity, the Eglin AFB fleet will grow to 59 aircraft with about 100 pilots and 2,100 maintainers graduating yearly...."

SOURCE: http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/t ... es-on.aspx

Environmental Impact Statement on F-35’s at Eglin 05 Mar 2014 Cristina Pfeffer

"...As of now Eglin Air Force Base has 33 F-35’s. They hope to have a total of up to 59 aircraft."

SOURCE: http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/Envi ... 58661.html

[spazsinbad]

First F-35A Delivered To Luke AFB 14 Mar 2014 AINonline David Donald

"...F-35 training for all three U.S. services is currently conducted by the F-35 Integrated Training Center of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida, which parents the 58th FS “Mighty Gorillas” (Air Force, to be at full strength with 24 F-35As this spring), VMFAT-501 “Warlords” (Marine Corps, 20 F-35Bs) and VFA-101 “Grim Reapers” (Navy, to receive 15 F-35Cs). As well as assuming the training mantle for U.S. Air Force pilots, the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke will also parent training for overseas JSF operators. The first aircraft for Australia (AU-1) is due to arrive at the Arizona base before year-end.

Next year the Air Force plans to begin F-35A deliveries to its first operational unit (388th Fighter Wing) at Hill AFB, Utah. The base will ultimately have 72 F-35As assigned to the 388th FW and Air Force Reserve 419th FW. Hill is also home to the Ogden Air Logistics Center, which is the primary maintenance depot for the F-35A. This unit received its first F-35A for pre-service modification work last year."

SOURCE: http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ ... d-luke-afb