Weapons School Receives First F-35A

摘要

The US Air Force Weapons School has received its first Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning Ⅱ. The aircraft, 12-5049/'WA and 16WPS' (AF-60) was delivered to the school at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, on January 15 from the Lockheed Martin-run Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, Texas. It becomes the first of the type with the school's 16th Weapons Squadron Tomahawks'. In conjunction with the US Air Force Warfare Center and 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron both resident at Nellis, the school's first F-35A will be used to drive tactics development. The immediate goal is to create the curriculum for the first F-35 course. The first and subsequent F-35As assigned to the school will initially operate under the umbrella of the Tomahawks, the school's F-16 squadron. A second and third F-35As for the unit, 12-5051/'WA and USAFWS' (AF-62) and 12-5053/'WA and 57WG' (AF-64), began flight-testing at Fort Worth in January. The first F-35A student course is tentatively scheduled for January 2018.