the end of the year. Among other new
facilities will be areas from which 617 and
207 Squadrons will operate. The second
frontline F-35 unit announced, 809 Naval Air
Squadron, will also be housed at the base.
It will work up under 617 Sqn and then split
away and form in mid-2023.
No.617 Sqn will declare Initial Operational
Capability from Land (IOC Land) this
December when aircraft will be cleared
to deploy on operations for a finite period
using the MBDA AMRAAM (Advanced
Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile), ASRAAM
(Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile)
and the Raytheon 500lb (227kg) Paveway IV
precision-guided bomb.
The next significant milestone will be IOC
Maritime. UK test pilots will start First of
Class Flight Trials aboard the HMS QueenElizabeth in the autumn, off the northeast
coast of the US.
Commenting on his squadron’s transition
to flying from the carrier, Wg Cdr Butcher
said: “One of the great things about this
aircraft is the simulators are absolutely
fantastic and a leap ahead in technology.
For the pilots a lot of the workup will be
undertaken in the simulator where we can
fly to the ‘carrier’ and get a lot of our practice
approaches in that synthetic environment.
When we first go to the deck we will need to
start flying in calm and good weather as we
build up our experience on board. There’s
an added element, from my perspective, that
the 617 Sqn engineers need to experience
working on the flight deck. There’s a lot
of integration, which will need to happen
beforehand, to ensure they are safe tooperate in that environment and for them
to understand where the hazards exist as
they’ll be working right next to where the
aircraft are taking off and landing.”
Elements of 617 Sqn will join 17 Sqn
Black Knights for operational F-35B testing
on HMS Queen Elizabeth in autumn 2019,
and Wg Cdr Butcher said IOC Maritime
will be achieved in 2020. This will enable
617 Sqn to deploy to the carrier for the first
operational cruise in 2021.
He added that “a development programme
all the way from IOC to FOC [full operational
capability] will see an increase in capability in
all domains.” The aircraft will be continually
improved in the years ahead under what
is termed C2D2 (Continuous Capability
Development and Delivery). For example, the
MBDA Meteor air-to-air missile and SPEARNo.617 Sqn is scheduled to achieve F-35B initial operational capability from land in December this year. MoD/Crown Copyright 2016http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 51One of the four ab initio pilots assigned to 617 Sqn taxies out at MCAS Beaufort in December last year for their first flight in an F-35B. Lance Cpl
Erin R Ramsay/US Marine Corps 201748-52_dambusters_new_eraDC.mfDC.mf.mfDC.indd 51 09/04/2018 15:34