Italian tanker refuels F-35

An Italian KC-767A tanker has refueled an F-35A for the first time in a test on the West Coast. The milestone comes as Italy prepares to flight test its first domestically-assembled F-35A, which rolled off the Cameri assembly line in March and will eventually be flown to the United States to support pilot training at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. The joint strike fighter top-up took place 29 July over Edwards AFB, Calif., with 25 boom contacts and 16,000 pounds of fuel offloaded to the F-35 (AF-4). (Source: Flightglobal, 08/06/15) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 integrated training center and the reprogramming lab. In addition, Eglin will host the Norway-Italy Reprogramming Lab. Groundbreaking will be in 2016.