UNITED STATES
NEW F-35A TRAINING SQUADRON PLANS
THE US AIR Force is reshuffling its fifthgeneration fighter formal training units (FTUs). Eglin AFB, Florida, is to expand its resident 33rd Fighter Wing, which will receive a second F-35A training unit in addition to the existing 58th Fighter Squadron ‘Gorillas’. Eglin was the initial F-35 joint training site and hosted USAF, US Navy and US Marine Corps Lightning IIs. The marine F-35Bs were relocated to MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina, in 2014 and the navy’s F-35Cs of VFA-101 ‘Grim Reapers’ will depart from Eglin this summer as the ‘Grim Reapers’ close down. Brand new F-35As should begin arriving in the fall of 2021 to equip both resident FTUs, with the new squadron expected to reach full operational capability by spring 2023. Older low-rate initial production F-35As from the 58th FS will move to Nellis AFB to re-form the 65th Aggressor Squadron.
Establishment of the new unit at Eglin is predicated on the relocation of F-22A Raptor training from its temporary home at Eglin to Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. That move was announced in March but is pending the outcome of an environmental analysis. The decision to locate additional F-35As at Eglin has t…
