Australian Aviation — January 2018

August-September timeframe we’ll
get two jets which won’t go into the
American training system,” explained
WGCDR Clare.
“They will just stay on the
Australian system and we’ll fly them,
initially from a shake-down point
of view at Luke with Australian
maintainers, and procedures under an
Australian airworthiness banner and
our own pilots operating out of Luke.
That’s just basically a shake-down of
the aircraft before we fly them home at
the end of next year.
“So what we’re working on in the

next six months is, taking all our

knowledge of the F-35 that we’ve

gained from flying it over the last few

years, taking that and presenting this

to what’s called an Airworthiness

Board,” WGCDR Clare added.

“This will happen in August, and

is where we make sure our processes

and procedures are all in place. We

currently operate under the US Air

Force airworthiness system, and

Lockheed Martin is currently looking

after our aeroplanes. Even though

the 25 or so maintainers I’ve got over

there do a lot of the work, it’s under a

Lockheed banner in accordance with

US procedures and publications.”

The 61st FS arrangement is likely

to continue until 2OCU achieves

IOC with their F-35s in 2021/22,

after which RAAF F-35 maintenance

and pilot training will commence in

Australia.

“Working with the US and in

particular the 61st FS is great. The CO

of the 61st has flown with Australians

before on the F-22 so he’s got a bit of

a history there, and he’s really, really

supportive of our activities – they’re

actually quite proud to be part of

Australia’s history in standing up F-35.

They’re at the forefront of generating

F-35 fighter capability and training.”

In fact, Australian F-35 pilots

already hold key roles in the 61st FS.

“We’re going to have 10 to 12

instructors in there soon which will be

almost half the squadron, so we’re a

fairly large part of the organisation,’”

WGCDR Clare said.

“And we’ve got guys in pivotal roles

within the squadron – one is a flight

commander now and another is going

into a flight commander role soon,

plus one of the other pilots fulfils the

essential FCI/weapons officer role in

the squadron.”

TO THE FUTURE

A35-003 made its first flight

from Lockheed Martin’s Fort

Worth production facility on

December 1. It is scheduled to

join the 61st FS at Luke AFB in

early 2018.CARL RICHARDS

Out with the old...one of the RAAF’s

first two F-35As flies formation

with 2OCU’s CO jet when they

visited Australia for the 2017 Avalon

Airshow.DEFENCE