U.S. Air Force photo/Jim Hazeltine The first F-35 Lightning II fighter arrived at Luke Air Force Base on March 10, to be operated by t...
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| U.S. Air Force photo/Jim Hazeltine |
The first F-35 Lightning II fighter arrived at Luke Air Force Base on March 10, to be operated by the 56th Fighter Wing. The aircraft was flown in directly from the Lockheed Martin's factory at Fort Worth, Texas.
The fifth generation fighter will be formally unveiled on March 14. Almost 16 F-35s will join the base by end of 2014, and the full contingent of the 144 aircrafts will arrive incrementally over the next decade.
The F-35A Conventional Takeoff and Landing variant, known as LF 5030, is the 35th F-35 to the USAF and is the eighth F-35 base.
In 2015, Luke AFB will begin training U.S. Air Force pilots and eventually international pilots destined for deployment to combat units around the world.
Luke AFB is the second base flying F-35s in Arizona after the stand-up of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, in 2012.
