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F-35 LIGHTNING II F-35A into service
The F-35’s Autonomic Logistics Information
System (ALIS) is showing its immaturity when
faced with the rapidly growing fleet of aircraft,
meaning that maintainers must also use
workarounds to inspect and repair the aircraft.
The first B-Course commenced on February
8, 2017, under the tutelage of the instructors
of the 61st FS. “It was just an incredible
feeling accelerating away from the runway
for the first time,” said a student. “I hope
to always be able to look back at this day
and recognise just how incredible it was.”
After approximately two months of
classroom academic instruction, the student
pilots entered the flight line phase of their
training syllabus, where over the course
of the next six months they learned the
skills necessary to perform basic air-to-air,
air-to-ground, and low-visibility combat
flying. “Right now they’re learning how
to take off, how to land, and how to fly
by instruments so that they’re able to
get back to ground safely in inclement
weather,” said Maj Joshua Larsen, 56th
FW executive officer and instructor pilot.
“After that, they progress into mission
sets, in which they will learn both basic
fighter manoeuvres and advanced combat
manoeuvres, and build off of those things to
learn how to perform complex missions.”
Class 17-ABL graduated six new pilots on the
first ever F-35A initial qualification course on
August 5, 2017. “Each student flew at least 48
sorties totalling 77 hours,” said Lt Col Rhett
Hierlmeier, 61st FS commander. “Starting with
the basics of taking off and landing, continuingacross the full spectrum of mission sets, and
culminating in our capstone phase of high-
end employment. Along the way, our students
dropped inert and live laser-guided GBU-
12s, refuelled from a KC-135 day and night,
and flew low-altitude step-down training.”COMBAT READY
Production aircraft AF-77 and AF-78 (USAF
serials 13-5071 and 13-5072 respectively)
became the first jets to join the 34th FS
‘Rude Rams’ at Hill AFB in September 2015.
The US Air Force set itself a five-month
window in which to declare that its new
Lightning IIs were ready to go to war – if
called upon. In the event, the F-35A was
declared ‘combat ready’ on August 2, 2016,
right at the leading edge of the allocated
timeframe as Gen ‘Hawk’ Carlisle, the
head of Air Combat Command, declared
that the Lightning II had achieved IOC
with the 388th FW’s 34th FS at Hill AFB.Gen Carlisle said: “The F-35A will be the
most dominant aircraft in our inventory,
because it can go where our legacy aircraft
cannot and provide the capabilities our
commanders need on the modern battlefield.”
The 34th – and its partner Air Force
Reserve Command unit the 466th FS – both
completed all requirements to achieve IOC
following the submission of documentation
for consideration on July 27. The 34th had
12 F-35As equipped with the modifications
for IOC, with 21 combat-ready, active-duty
and reserve pilots assigned to the squadrons.
The 388th FW had attained enough
deployable aircraft, personnel, equipment and
spares to support a six-aircraft deployment.
In addition to fuel system improvements
and additional lightning protection, last-
minute modifications expanded the
aircraft’s flight envelope, and updated
software corrected radar instability issues.
The litmus test for IOC was the squadron’s
off-station deployment exercise withLEFT: The rst B-Course for brand new ab-
initio pilots began in February 2017 at Luke
AFB. USAF
RIGHT: A pilot at the 34th FS goes through
pre-start checks. Jim Haseltine
BELOW: Instructor and student walk back
to the ‘Top Dogs’ building after an intense
training mission. Jim Haseltine
BOTTOM: The Ogden Air Logistics Center at
Hill AFB is pivotal for a lot of the in-service
upgrades that are being rolled out for the
F-35. USAF