Posted on February 24, 2010 by Fighter Country
The Wickenburg meeting is this Thursday (Feb. 25) at the Wickenburg High School Media Center, at 1090 S. Vulture Mine Road. This is an open-house scoping meeting and will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. to provide the public an opportunity to learn about F-35s and to provide input to help define the proposed action and alternatives. Other meetings are being held around the valley. For meeting locations call 623-856-6169 or visit http://lukeforward.com/. Residents are encouraged to attend one or more of these meetings and to complete comment forms that will be used during the process of the Environmental…
Posted on February 23, 2010 by Fighter Country
The Luke Forward Committee has been sending out thousands of emails to registered supporters the past week providing an alternative option to physically attending these meetings from across the valley. The F-35 Public Scoping meetings are a critical part of the Environmental Impact Study being conducted by the Air Force. The Air Force proposes to establish training F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) training aircraft at one or more existing Air Force installations within the continental United States. F-35A is a conventional take-off, multiple-role fighter with an emphasis on air-to-ground missions. The aircraft was designed to replace and supplement F-16 and…
Posted on February 20, 2010 by Fighter Country
VSI is now under contract to develop the Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. Some of the features that will be provided by this next generation helmet system include: Binocular Wide Field-of-View Integrated day/night capability with sensor fusion Highly accurate head tracking hardware and software Digital image source for helmet vision displayed symbology Custom helmet shell, liner and suspension system for lightest weight, optimal C.G. and maximum pilot comfort.
Posted on February 19, 2010 by Fighter Country
by Surprise Mayor L.E. “Lyn” Truitt As mayor of Surprise, I see the positive difference Luke Air Force Base makes daily in our community. That is why I fully support bringing the F-35 training program to Luke Air Force Base. Surprise has more flyovers from Luke’s F-16 jets than any other West Valley city. To us, the roar of those fighters is the sound of freedom. Luke AFB is a true West Valley native. Its mission of defending freedom blossomed decades ago, when it was a training site for young WWII pilots. Many of them loved Arizona and settled here;…
Posted on February 19, 2010 by Fighter Country
Tensions between F-35 jet supporters and skeptics will have another chance to boil over next week, as the Air Force will hold a series of scoping meetings to hear the public’s concerns. The public scoping process is intended to actively involve citizens and government agencies in helping identify the environmental issues to be addressed in the environmental analysis of the F-35 at Luke. These meetings will provide residents with an introduction to the F-35 and its capabilities and mission. Specific information on how the F-35 will be integrated at Luke as a training facility will also be covered. Meetings are…
Posted on February 19, 2010 by Fighter Country
The United States Air Force officially becomes the first F-35 Lightning II customer later this year, when the first of the stealth fighters is delivered to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The delivery will initiate a massive recapitalization of the Air Force’s multi-role fighter fleet, and will usher in profound increases in capability, a Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) executive said Friday. “The first two production F-35s are in final assembly at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth plant, and the training wing at Eglin is primed to receive them and get their pilots in the seats,” said Steve O’Bryan, Lockheed Martin vice…
Posted on February 18, 2010 by Fighter Country
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – The Marine Corps version of Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N) F-35 is expected to make its long-delayed first full vertical landing within the next week, a top U.S. Navy official said on Thursday. Captain Lawrence Burt, Commander of Carrier Air Wing Two, said officials testing the short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) version of the new radar-evading fighter needs to conduct a few more flights before doing the landing maneuver . “They’re three or four flights from a full STOVL vertical landing, which would be a huge step in the testing process,” Burt told Reuters after addressing…
Posted on February 17, 2010 by Fighter Country
By Megan Scully CongressDaily February 17, 2010 Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter on Wednesday said he will continue to aggressively review and manage the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter after a restructuring of the troubled program aimed at getting its cost and schedule back on track. Speaking at a conference sponsored by Aviation Week, Carter said plans to prolong and invest more heavily in the F-35′s development phase would put it on a path that is more “solid and realistic” and reverse “the schedule erosion” that has plagued the program. Carter, who spent weeks this fall reviewing the F-35, expressed confidence…
Posted on February 17, 2010 by Fighter Country
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Feb. 17 – The jet, known as BF-3, took off near Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth plant at 9:51 a.m. CST and arrived at NAS Patuxent River three hours and 10 minutes later. BF-3 joins two other F-35Bs at the Navy test site, and will be used mainly to evaluate vehicle systems and expand the aircraft’s aerodynamic and structural-loads envelope. The airplane will also focus on weapons testing, and will carry and release most of the weapons the F-35B will use in combat. Two more F-35Bs will join the test operation in the near future….
Posted on February 17, 2010 by Fighter Country
In the last several months, there has been a flurry of public meetings, media coverage and varying opinions on the campaign to bring the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program to Luke Air Force Base (AFB). Unfortunately, there have been many opinions that were misconstrued as facts that could potentially hurt the opportunity to have Luke AFB chosen as the new JSF training base for the Department of Defense. As mayor of Surprise, I want to state my full support for bringing the F-35 training program to Arizona. Surprise has more flyovers of aircraft than any other West Valley city…
