http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #365 AUGUST 2018 // 53
Acknowledgements:
Lt Col Eric ‘Bodhi’ Puels, Maj Elizabeth
Magnusson, Maj Daniel ‘Chip’n’ Daehler and
Maj Toru Tsuchiya (Japan liaison), all of the
944th FW. Lt Col Curtis ‘Cooter’ Dougherty,
Maj Rebecca Heyse, SSgt Jenna Bigham, SrA
Goodsell and Wg Cdr Darren ‘Clarey’ Clare
(RAAF/CC), all of the 56th FW.in Australia our procedures, rules, publications,
risk assessments and such will need to be fine-
tuned. Later this year our aircraft numbers 9
and 10 [AU-09 and AU-10] will roll off the line
and go to Australia, and we will start operating
at Williamstown for V and V [verifications
and validations], plus suitability testing.
“We will end up with ten F-35As at Luke and
will have eight by the end of this year and
two more in 2019. We will have ten to 12
instructors, so essentially about half of No 3
Squadron will be here next year. Luke will be
our ferry base and hub, so as all of our jets
come off the line, they will be first directed to
land at Luke. In 2021, we will have completed
the training and F-35 transition and will have
moved all resources back to Australia.
“The first operational squadron will be No
3 Squadron, which stopped flying F/A-18As
last year; the unit will initially perform test and
validation roles. The next squadron to receive
its aircraft will be our training squadron, No
2 OCU [Operational Conversion Unit] and
that will be followed by two more operational
squadrons, Nos 75 and 77 Squadrons.
“Their F/A-18As will eventually be phased
out of service as Lightning IIs materialise, and,
as it now stands, there will be four total F-35
squadrons in the end. Here, we fly any 61st FS
jet, USAF or Australian, for our missions, as do
the USAF pilots. From a pilot’s perspective, it’s
seamless and there is no difference at all; the
aircraft are pooled. The only difference is the
61st maintainers take care of their aircraft, while
Australian maintainers handle the Australian jets.
“We have been doing advanced training
here, such as four-ship missions, and depend
more on a wingman to make independent
tactical decisions. We will data-share with
assets such as our Wedgetails, Growlers and
more to get the entire shared situational and
threat picture. And then we can become a
communication or weapons node as seen fit
for the mission. We will truly operate as one
team, rather than be in a bubble flying our
independent ‘specialty’ aircraft as in the past.
“The stick-and-rudder portion is quite like
flying a Hornet, but with new weapons. Sensor
integration and data-linking capabilities enabling
us to data-share with all of the other platforms
back home will change the way we fight,
and it’s exciting. I can see this aircraft being
something very special for the next 40 years.”Lightning IP
Lt Col Curtis ‘Cooter’ Dougherty is the 56th
FW director of staff and an F-35A instructor
pilot, or IP. He graduated from the Air Force
Academy and, following training, flew F-15Es
out of Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina
and later at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk.
Lt Col Dougherty completed a stint at Nellis
AFB as a weapons tactics instructor and
returned to Seymour Johnson with the 335th FS
‘Chiefs’, amassing 2,200 F-15E hours. He then
flew for the Thunderbirds Air Demonstration
Squadron for three and a half years, and then
went to Luke where he gained more than 1,000
hours on the F-16. He transitioned to the F-35A
in 2015 and has 200 hours in the Lightning II.
“There were some challenges adopting the
F-35As here, and now that the programme
is more mature, the squadrons are much
more self-sufficient,” ‘Cooter’ told AFM. “I
mostly fly with the 63rd FS as my assigned
unit. Regarding the foreign nations here,
we all learn from each other on a daily
basis and it’s truly a neat melting pot.
“The contract and training terms vary for each
country, and all of the countries have a pooling
arrangement to provide as equitable a use of
resources as we can reasonably accomplish.
The degree at which we want to train pilots,
use F-35s, fuel and maintenance resources
all have to be committed up to a level. All
of the countries at Luke have meetings to
decide what is fair and equitable based on
what is available – it’s unlike any environment I
have operated in. It is amazing to walk into a
large force exercise, like being at a Red Flag,
but in this case we are all flying the same
kind of aircraft. We train together, socialise
and our families even know each other.
“To have that degree of camaraderie that
extends around the globe, doing 24-jet large
force exercises, idea sharing, along with the
benefits of pilots with more than 15 years
of experience in a variety of platforms, isvery interesting to see. When I flew with the
61st and worked with the Australians, I was
very impressed and took ideas from them
that I feel our service could do better at.
“The FMS side is different and is more
contract-based. That is handled separately
by the 944th FW, and their requirements are
less fluid, and mapped out in more detail, in
advance. With Luke being a formal training
fighter base, we take students who know
nothing about the F-35 and teach them to
fly it, which takes a special skill set. The
more advanced and specific niche mission
sets will be done at their home stations.
“Luke has a lot of desirable traits for formal
student pilot training, the most important
‘ticket’ item being our instructor expertise. The
weather here is mostly sunny and the winds,
plus crosswinds here, are rarely an issue.
“We have airspace ranges that are close,
both to the south and to the west. That does
bring up a challenge though. With the F-35
carrying 18,000 pounds of internal fuel, the
range and endurance is superior to that of the
F-16. The other factor is the F-35 tactically
uses a lot more airspace in order to maximize
the benefit of a fifth-generation platform, both
in air-to-air and air-to-ground scenarios. We
are currently working with the FAA [Federal
Aviation Administration] to expand our options.
“We are evaluating the F-16 as being a good
fourth-generation aggressor for dissimilar air-
to-air training, so it’s possible not all F-16
activity will eventually be moved to Holloman
AFB, New Mexico, in the distant future.
“As for the long-term future, as of
2025, I expect we’ll see six USAF F-35
squadrons, a small Norwegian presence,
and probably an FMS client.”A 62nd FS jet, 13-5080 (AF-86) ‘LF’ departs Luke with ’burner blazing. The base has dual runways, and because the F-35 is a single-engine aircraft, pilots do a
fair amount of practice flameouts – PFOs – using the outside runway, while the inside runway is used for normal operations.AFM