Eglin wing surpasses 5,000 combined F-35 sorties

by 1st Lt. Hope R. Cronin
33rd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

5/30/2014 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The 33rd Fighter Wing etched another mark on the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter program May 28 by logging its 5,000th combined sortie in the F-35.

The F-35 Integrated Training Center at the wing flies a third of all F-35 sorties in the Department of Defense program. More than 15,000 sorties have been flown across all variants of the fifth generation multirole stealth fighter.

Our team knows they are leading the way in putting the F-35 through its paces and developing the cadre that will establish the F-35's role in air dominance," said Col. Todd Canterbury, the 33rd FW commander. "The men and women here advance the ball down the line every day, and we see that in the number of sorties generated and students trained."

The maturity of the F-35 program at Eglin was echoed this week, he said.

Also this week, the Air Force's 58th Fighter Squadron welcomed its 26th and final F-35A delivery scheduled in the current environmental impact study.

The F-35 ITC is responsible for F-35 A/B/C Lightning II pilot and maintainer training for the Marine Corps, the Navy, the Air Force and, in the future, at least eight international partners.