East Coast F-35 To be Base in Florida?

Recently, Virginia Beach councilman Bill DeSteph called on Virginia elected officials to support basing the F-35, the Navy's newest fighter jet, at NAS Oceana, which is the master jet base for the East Coast. The councilman is surely on the ball! He realizes world-wide pilots and technicians will find themselves traveling more to Florida where the key Joint Strike Fighter training facility is to be located.

Follow up:

F-35 Lightening II manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, said the JSF Integrated Training Center would open at Eglin Air Force Base next year to train pilots and maintainers from air forces throughout the world. Lockheed JSF deputy program manager Eric Branyan said the facility would turn out fully qualified pilots and maintainers. "The center features a full mission simulator that will be networked to other trainers on site, enabling formation flying and virtual war gaming," he said.

The Eglin facility will feature some significant training innovations. Pilots will have the use of portable laptop trainers they can use in their own time. These feature a control stick and throttle and helmet-display glasses, along with a realistic panoramic cockpit display, with voice command and internet connectivity to fellow trainees.

US Air Force General C.D. Moore, one of the top Pentagon officials overseeing the JSF project, said JSF deliveries to Eglin would begin next year. "While 2009 proved to be a year of firsts for F-35, 2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year as flight test kicks into high gear, aircraft are fielded at Eglin to start the integrated training program and our first production aircraft are delivered," he said.

"Meeting these near-term milestones gives us greater confidence in our ability to deliver the tremendous capabilities of the F-35 to the warfighter on the planned Initial Operation Capability schedule.

It is anticipated the fighters will be based and maintained at joint forces installations. Question is, will Oceana be one of them?