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Originally Posted by DRG
What the average time from training on a new aircraft to deployment ?
Don
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In the case of the F-35 pick a random number and multiply by ten:- The following extracts are from Air International Feb issue.
"In far bigger trouble is the F-35A or JSF. It was once scheduled to begin training pilots and maintainers at the 33rd Fighter Wing the 'Nomads' at Elgin AFB, Florida in November 2009 but is still not doing so."
"The F-35As belatedly started to arrive at Elgin last July, beginning with aircraft 08-0747. The base had half a dozen F-35As by mid-October, the sixth being aircraft 08-0751. But Michael Gilmore the Pentagon's test and evaluation boss, decreed that no one but a qualified test pilot could safely operate the fighters. Not a single F-35A sortie has been flown at Elgin."
"The Marine Corps F-35B is in greater jeopardy than the Air Force F-35A. General Norton Schwartz USAF chief of staff has hinted strongly that the latter is a proven commodity- despite the paralysis at Elgin - and that he would gladly save the the F-35A, even if the F-35B is offered up on the altar of defence cuts."
Regards, Warwick