F-35 training exercise deemed successful, Hill AFB officials say

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SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. military's top combat fighter jet passed its first transatlantic training exercise with flying colors, according to officials at Hill Air Force Base.

F-35 fighters from the 34th Fighter Squadron, 388th Fighter Wing and the Air Force Reserve’s 466th Fighter Squadron, 419th Fighter Wing recently participated in joint air training with other Europe-based aircraft in support of the European Reassurance Initiative.

"We did a fair amount of air-to-air work, focusing a lot on familiarization of fighter integration, tactics, techniques and procedures," 388th Fighter Wing commander Col. David Lyons said Wednesday. "We didn't have any major hiccups."

Hill Air Force Base is home to the Air Force’s first operational (combat-coded) F-35A unit. F-35A aircraft at Hill are flown and maintained by a team of active duty and reserve airmen from the 388th and 419th fighter wings. The units recently completed the F-35A's first overseas deployment to Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England for the exercise called "Iron Hand."

Overseas training deployment has been part of the Air Force’s plan since the F-35A was declared combat ready last year as part of the natural progression of the jet's development program.

"It's a major stepping stone in our run up to our first time taking these jets into a real combat scenario," Lyons said. "While we work up to the point where we're deployed to combat, we're hitting these major milestones along the way."

The training deployment was an effort to maximize training opportunities with other NATO nations, build partnerships with allied air forces and gain a broad familiarity of Europe’s diverse operating conditions, he said. The introduction of the U.S. military's premier fifth-generation fighter to the European theater furthers efforts to use enhanced technology in collaborative military operations, he added.

"Now we know that we can take the F-35 and all our equipment and go wherever we want to go in the world," Lyons said. A total of eight F-35 jets and approximately 200 U.S airmen were involved in the Iron Hand exercise.

The transatlantic flight for the training deployment was supported by Air Mobility Command and the 100th Air Refueling Wing, (Royal Air Force) Mildenhall, England, he said. Multiple refueling aircraft from four different bases offloaded more than 400,000 pounds of fuel during the "tanker bridge" from the United States to Europe.

Additionally, C-17 and C-5 aircraft moved airlift support, moving maintenance equipment and personnel. While there were no major problems or issues during the training, participants did learn ways to improve their efficiency, according to Chief Master Sgt. Benjamin Carpenter, superintendent of the 34th Aircraft Maintenance Unit.

"We ran into some little snags here and there, but that's allowed us to tweak our deployment footprint going forward so we can be more effective," he said. "This gave us a great opportunity to look at (our planning efforts) and make sure that we shape them so that we can be more effective in the future."

Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the U.K. will be the first overseas "beddown" location for the F-35. In the military, beddown refers to the establishment of convenient facilities for troop support that can provide a ready platform for the projection of force, if the need arises.

The F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation fighter equipped with advanced stealth capability with fighter speed and agility. Critics have complained about the high cost of the high-tech stealth fighter — $130 million each, representing hundreds of billions of dollars for the entire fleet — and military leaders agree there is a need to bring the cost of the F-35A down.

President Donald Trump was one of the loudest critics of the F-35 program. In January, he said he wanted to get costs associated with the jet fighter "way down," though he was not specific about what could be done to address the high costs.

At $400 billion, the F-35 is the most expensive weapons program in U.S. military history. There are currently plans to build nearly 2,500 for use by the U.S. military, including about 78 that will be permanently stationed at Hill by 2019.