Karo-Aviation
visit's Lakenheath 2017-4
Article and pictures by Ronald de Roij
Hill F-35A Lightning II's at Lakenheath
Eight F-35A Lightning II's operated by the 388th Fighter Wing’s 34th Fighter Squadron ‘Rams’ and the Air Force Reserve 419th Fighter Wing’s 466th Fighter Squadron at Hill AFB, Utah, deployed to RAF Lakenheath, UK, in April for the type’s first overseas training deployment to Europe.
The fighters immediately embarked on a range of training operations with other Europe-based aircraft under the European Reassurance Initiative.
The F-35A Lightning II's also forward deployed to
Estonia and Bulgaria to ‘maximize training opportunities, build partnerships with allied
air forces, and become familiar with Europe’s diverse operating conditions’.
Two F-35As wait at the end of the runway at
RAF Lakenheath prior to a training sortie |
The deployment,
The deployment to Lakenheath marks the first time the Air Force version of the
F-35A Lightning II has been sent abroad for training.
It is a “natural progression” that started with a proof-of-concept deployment last year to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, followed by the squadron’s recent trip to Nellis AFB, Nevada for Red Flag.
All that was done locally in the United States and then this is the first overseas deployment with the
F-35A Lightning II in this step by step
approach.
The choose for Lakenheath was natural as the base is looking forward to hosting
F-35A Lightning II' in the future.
During the deployment pilots trained for example with F-15 Eagles from RAF Lakenheath and
Euro fighter Typhoons of the Royal Air Force.
Over the first week, F-35A Lightning II pilots started off doing air-to-air exercises with United
States Air Force F-15Cs and F-15Es Eagles from Lakenheath, as well as engagements against other
F-35A Lightning II's acting as adversary air.
Next to practice dogfighting in a one-on-one and doing combat manoeuvres in two-on-two formations with simulated weapons, including the laser-guided GBU-12, 2,000-pound joint direct attack munition and AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.
Most of the training exercises took place over U.K. airspace minimizing the risk of miscalculation by Russia. The
F-35A Lightning II's also forward deployed to Estonia and Bulgaria to ‘maximize training opportunities, build partnerships with allied air forces, and become familiar with Europe’s diverse operating conditions’.
Lessons learned will help inform the bed-down of United States Air Force
F-35A Lightning II's squadrons that will be permanently based at Lakenheath in the early 2020s.
On 2
August 2016, the 34th became the first squadron to achieve
initial operating capability with the F-35A Lightning II.
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34th
Fighter Squadron,
The 34th Fighter Squadron is part of the United States Air Force′s 388th
Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. On August 2nd 2016, the Air
Force announced that the 34th had become the first squadron to achieve
initial operating capability with the F-35A Lightning II, the Air Force′s variant of
the F-35 Lightning II.
With an operational history extending back to World War II, and
including the Cold War, Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, Operation
Southern Watch, Operation Desert Fox, Operation Noble Eagle, and the
Afghanistan War, it had most recently operated F-16 Fighting Falcon
aircraft on air superiority missions prior to its reactivation as a
F-35A Lightning II squadron.
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