Flight Clearance

The F-35A has been granted a military flight release by the Aeronautical Systems Center, opening the door for pilots at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, to begin flying the Joint Strike Fighter.

The clearance is perhaps the most important step left for the Air Force to clear before beginning F-35A training operations, which have been delayed for months while ASC completed its evaluation process.

“The Air Force, Joint Strike Fighter Program Office and other stakeholders have painstakingly followed established risk acceptance and mitigation processes to ensure the F-35A is ready,” said Gen. Donald Hoffman, the commander of Air Force Materiel Command, in a statement released this afternoon. “This is an important step for the F-35A and we are confident the team has diligently balanced the scope of initial operations with system maturity.” Air Education and Training Command will execute JSF training for the Air Force, but ASC, the service's airworthiness authority, is a part of Air Force Materiel Command.

The military flight release alone does not mean training flights will start immediately at Eglin AFB. Inside the Air Force reported last week that Air Education and Training Command will slowly increase its JSF sortie rate and give instructors time to get comfortable with the aircraft and training syllabus before turning the aircraft over to student pilots.

Additionally, the Air Force is hoping to receive a more advanced version of the aircraft's logistics program, the Lockheed-Martin-designed Autonomous Logistics Information System, before beginning formal training. However, the service could start flying with a more limited version of ALIS.