RIGHT: An F-35B of No 17 Test and Evaluation
Squadron flies near Edwards AFB. Jamie
Hunter LEFT: An F-35B of the 461st Flight Test
Squadron ‘Death Jesters’, part of the Integrated
Test Force, conducts ASRAAM testing during a
firing campaign under the SDD phase in 2016.
Lockheed Martin/Darin Russell
9
ABOVE: The UK has established its initial cadre of F-35B pilots and engineers under VMFAT-
‘Warlords’ at MCAS Beaufort. Jamie Hunter
LEF T: BF-03 piloted by Sqn Ldr Andy Edgell fires an ASRAAM during separation testing at NAS
Patuxent River on January 27, 2017. Lockheed Martin/Dane Wiedmann
Aircraft (JCA) requirement for 48 F-35Bs.
The following 90 aircraft sit in the FCAS
requirement. We are presently evaluating
the optimum mix between the F-35A and B
variants for the next tranches of aircraft.Spiral enhancement
We shouldn’t forget that we’ve been flying
the F-35 since 2012. People will see the
aircraft coming to the UK and think it’s
brand new, whereas the reality is that
we’ve accrued six years of experience and
an awful lot of evidence. We already have
specialists in this task and we owe the US
Marine Corps a huge debt of thanks for
supporting us – without them we couldn’t
have achieved our ambitions to train as
quickly as we have to meet UK IOC.The US Air Force, Navy and the Marine
Corps will operate the F-35 from land and
sea. Having previously worked in carrier
strike with the Harrier and in the low-
observable community with the USAF F-
Nighthawk, I’m completely agnostic as to
where we operate our F-35s from. Aboard
the HMS Queen Elizabeth and at RAF
Marham we see a collegiate atmosphere
and environment. I want it to be seamless
as to where we have taken off from, either
from land or sea. Fundamentally important
is what we do when we are on operations
with this system. As soon as the wheels
are in the well, the pilot will be doing
the job this aircraft was designed for.
Although we’ve been flying the F-35 since
2012, the journey is just beginning.
The aircraft will be flying out to 2050