Page 35 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

The Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Arrives into the Combat Force

FIGURE 7 NINJA GREETED BY ITALIAN AIR FORCE GENERAL UPON ARRIVAL AT PAX RIVER FEBRUARY 5 2016

Question: This is the first F-35 built on a new assembly line.
Did that come into play in your calculations in flying the aircraft?
Answer: We did 15 flight hours with AL-1 prior to crossing the Atlantic and we had no issues, and I mean NO
issues.
It is the first F-35 built outside the United States.
Our workers at the FACO worked as a team as a team to get this result.
We are building for our own air force and wings for other air forces.
We flew the jet 5 times back to back to back to back prior to coming. I don’t think that has ever been done
before as well.
Question: How many flight hours do you have on the F-35?
Answer: About 50 real flight hours.
I was formerly a Tornado pilot in the reconnaissance role.
And then became a test pilot.
Question: After the testing here, what is next for the jet?
Answer: We will take the first two aircraft to Luke AFB.
Then in a few months will bring additional aircraft to Luke.
This summer we will ferry number 4 and 5 to give us a full complement of five at Luke.
All the student pilots at Luke fly the aircraft in the fleet whether US, Australian, Norwegian or Italian.
And the training allows us to learn common TTPs from the ground up.

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