Defence Online

F-35A combat readiness celebrated at Hill

August 10, 2016

Hill Air Force Base, Utah hosted a ceremony on 5th August in celebration of the recent announcement that the F-35A Lightning II is ready for combat.

General Hawk Carlisle, the commander of US Air Combat Command (ACC), declared that the fifth-generation fighter aircraft was ‘combat ready’ on 2nd August.

During the ceremony, General Carlisle lauded the aircraft’s performance and praised airmen for getting the F-35A to initial operational capability.

The F-35A is the latest addition to ACC’s fleet of deployable and fifth-generation aircraft. It provides air superiority, interdiction, suppression of enemy air defences and close air support, as well as command and control functions through fused sensors, and will provide pilots with situational awareness of the battlespace that will be more extensive than any single-seat platform in existence.

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James also credited the combination of airmen and technology in getting the F-35A to initial operational capability (IOC). She said: “There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that by pairing air, space and cyberspace technologies together, America’s airmen and the F-35A will lead the joint force in assuming our nation’s advantage against any adversary in the future, especially in the event we get into a high-end fight with a foe that has anti-access aerial denial capabilities. This aircraft could not have come any sooner.”

Deborah Lee James F-35A Lightning II General Hawk Carlisle Hill Air Force Base Secretary of the Air Force US Air Combat Command (ACC) Utah

Post written by: Domhnall MacInnes

I am a features writer for MOD DCB magazine and Defence Online and a Content Marketing Executive with BiP Solutions.