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F-35 LIGHTNING II F-35B into service
‘Warlords’ lead the way
Having stood up VMFAT-501 ‘Warlords’
alongside its sister services at Eglin
AFB in 2010, the Marine Corps then set
about striking out and bedding down at
a spiritual home. Having completed a
first phase of training for the initial cadre
of engineers and pilots for VMFA-121,
the ‘Warlords’ moved east to Beaufort.
Beaufort has a big part to play in the F-35
story. It is additionally where the United
Kingdom – the only non-US Tier 1 partner
in the F-35 programme – has built its initial
F-35B operation alongside the Marine Corps.
At Edwards AFB, California, VMX-1 has
four F-35Bs embedded as part of the Joint
Operational Test Team (JOTT) alongside
Australian, British and Dutch operational test
units – plus the US Air Force F-35As and
US Navy F-35Cs – for a co-ordinated effort
that is leading to Initial Operational Test and
Evaluation (IOT&E). Until now, operational
test work has been geared towards signing
off particular elements as they are passed
across from development test (DT) in order
to allow initial operating capability (IOC),ABOVE: The aircraft assigned to VMFAT-501 at MCAS Beaufort sit just outside the operations
building, so pilots and maintainers can easily move between the two. Jamie Hunter
RIGHT: RAF pilot Sqn Ldr Hugh Nichols at the controls of a VMFAT-501 F-35B while training in
the Moody Military Operating Area (MOA). Jamie Hunter BELOW: An F-35B of training squadron
VMFAT-501 in the pattern at MCAS Beaufort. Lockheed Martin/ Liz Lutz