Upcoming USAF Squadrons

[dust1290]

Anyone have any RUMINT as to which squadrons will be reactivated at Eielson? Is there a process in place that selects which USAF squadrons to reactivate?

And will the 60th be resurrected at Eglin?

[spazsinbad]

For sure I do not understand how, why & wherefore USAF squadrons are numbered named or just plain referrered to as because to me there is a bewildering number of '2nd OPS' squadrons so I'll leave it to knowledgeable to decipher this....

First posted by 'SWP' 16 Aug 2013: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=24437&p=257316&hilit=Eielson#p257316

"...DWG [Defence Writers Group]: Also I’d just ask about — I know we can talk about F-35 at Eielson. Do you have some thoughts on that? Talk about where that is right now?

General Carlisle: Sure. We’re in the process now of doing the strategic basing to determine where the F-35 — The Secretary of the Air Force has said the first overseas F-35s will, and that is the 2 nd Ops Squadron, is going to be in the Pacific, which is what I think is the right decision as you might imagine. I think it points to the rebalance to the Pacific...."

Source: http://www.airforcemag.com/DWG/Document ... rlisle.pdf (193Kb)

[dust1290]

It sounds like Carlisle is simply referring to the fact that the second combat-coded, operational squadrons will be based at Eielson. I don't believe he's stating that the "2nd FS" will be reactivated there. To that end, the 2nd has already been reactivated at Tyndall as an adversary T-38 unit for the F-22s.

[dust1290]

Bump...any update on which fighter squadrons will be reactivated at Eielson when the F-35s show up?

[weasel1962]

Looking at hill, the fighter squadrons (4, 34) were transitioned from existing F-16 squadrons within 388 FW. Since 354 FW have been identified as the FW that would house the FS, it could be any of the sqns currently or previously in the FW. I do note 355 was reactivated in 2015 with detachment 457 (F-16). 18 FS also flies the F-16 in that FW in the aggressor role.

[weasel1962]

421 FS standing up.

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display ... rst-f-35a/

https://www.standard.net/news/governmen ... 7fdd7.html

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Hill Air Force Base's final combat-ready F-35 squadron is now starting to acquire its most important equipment.

According to 388th Fighter Wing spokesman Micah Garbarino, Hill's 421st Fighter Squadron received its first pair of F-35A Lightning IIs Wednesday. The 421st is the third and final squadron at Hill to receive the next-generation aircraft.

Hill was selected as the Air Force’s preferred home for the F-35 in December 2013 after a four-year environmental review process and the agency's first operational F-35s touched down at Hill in late 2015.

Since then, the 34th and 4th Fighter Squadrons and their associated aircraft maintenance units have generated nearly 10,000 sorties with more than 15,000 flying hours, Garbarino said.

The new jets brings the total number of F-35s at Hill to 52. Hill currently receives about two planes every month and is scheduled to have their full complement of 78 Lightning IIs by the end of 2019.

The 421st AMU, which support the squadron, began working in earnest in the summer. The unit has been preparing to receive its first aircraft by maintaining and launching jets loaned from Hill's two other F-35 squadrons.

Lt. Col. Richard Orzechowski, 421st FS commander said pilots and maintainers have been working with one overarching goal in mind: "fulfill the wing’s mission: to rapidly employ combat power."

Though it hasn't been built up to strength yet, Hill’s F-35s operation has already deployed several times, including an “in-theater” deployment to Japan in November of 2017. The deployment featured of 12 jets and more than 300 airmen, both stationed at Kadena Air Base. The group returned in May.

The 388th and 419th fighter wings have also been increasing training activity here in Utah.

In November, the two wings completed a combat power exercise that included launching 35 F-35s over about an 11-minute period. The jets headed west for the Utah Test and Training Range and conducted various missions among them, including an in-air refueling operation.

The two wings fly between 30-60 sorties per day from Hill’s flight line.

The active duty 388th FW and Air Force Reserve 419th FW both fly and maintain the F-35A under a Department of Defense strategy called Total Force partnership. Hill’s Ogden Air Logistics Complex also performs maintenance on all Air Force F-35s.