EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - The Air Force officially rolled out the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter during a ceremony Friday at the 58th Fighter Squadron Hanger. Hundreds of people attended the event, hosted by Gen. Edward Rice, Air Education and Training Command commander. Eglin is home of the F-35 training center, where pilots and maintainers from the Air Force, Navy, Marines and foreign nations will train with three variants of the fighter. Florida Sen. Don Gaetz said the F-35 will have a big impact on Northwest Florida. (Sources, multiple, including WEAR-TV, WALA-TV, 08/26/11) In a related matter, the production version of the F-35 has been cleared to fly, according to Lockheed Martin. The entire JSF fleet was grounded Aug. 2 after one jet suffered a malfunction of the integrated power package. A dozen instrumented test aircraft were OKd to fly Aug. 18, and now a half-dozen production jets, including two at Eglin, can take to the air. (Source: Air Force Times, 08/25/11)
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