Luke’s Future Is Training F-35 Fighter Pilots
Posted on January 27, 2010 by Fighter Country
Lt General John F. Regni, USAF (retired)
Our United States Air Force provides to our sovereign nation military effects and power across three domains: air, space and cyber. Cyber is the Air Force’s newest mission and it entails defensive and offensive measures to protect vital computer networks, communication systems and links so the military would never be blinded by potential enemies and adversaries. Space missions include the Global Positioning Systems (for example, your navigators in your car, golf cart or cell phones use the constellation of Air Force GPS satellites to determine your location and route), early warning, weather, and reconnaissance satellites, and more. Air missions include air dominance and air superiority, global reach, global power including close air support to soldiers on the ground, ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and more. The Air Force has six distinctive capabilities it brings to the joint service fight: Air and Space Superiority, Global Attack, Rapid Global Mobility, Precision Engagement, Information Superiority and Agile Combat Support.
Today, Luke AFB (including its Goldwater Range, Gila Bend and Auxiliary 1 fields) trains fighter pilots and maintenance personnel, and does so from the largest fighter wing in the USAF. Luke AFB directly supports the capabilities of Global Attack, Precision Engagement and Agile Combat Support and to some degree Air Superiority.
