F-35 training ramps up

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- F-35s are continuing to ramp up training operations and have started to simulate some combat-type missions. For the first time last month, the F-35 was controlled by an air battle management squadron on the ground at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The air battle managers are with the 337th Air Control Squadron, which falls under the 33rd Operations Group but is stationed at Tyndall in Panama City. The 337th trains 130 students a year to become air battle managers. Their radar provides a much broader view than radars inside the F-35. The equipment can pick up anything flying over the Gulf of Mexico from Houston to around the Florida peninsula and then up the East Coast to Virginia Beach. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 08/07/13)