Australia’s first F-35A pilot, squadron leader Andrew Jackson, took his first flight in an F-35A at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Fla., Australia’s Department of Defence said on March 20.
The flight test took place on March 18 in a U.S. Air Force F-35A because Australian F-35As are currently at Luke Air Force Base in anticipation of the international pilot training center in mid-2015. Jackson is to continue his training for several months.
The First F-35A is set to arrive in Australia at the end of 2018 with the first squadron operational in 2020, the Australian Defence Department said. The F-35A is planned to replace Australia’s F/A-18A/B Hornets at Royal Australian Air Force Bases Williamtown and Tindal.
Separately, the 56th Fighter Wing began training new F-35 pilots on March 18 at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., the U.S. Air Force said.
Brigadier General Scott Pleus, the 56th Fighter Wing commander flew the first training sortie in an F-35.
The first class of student pilots are to star training at the Academic Training Center on May 4. Pleus is set to complete training and join the first set of instructor pilots training the first class of students.
The 61st Fighter Squadron is the first squadron of the 56th Fighter Wing scheduled to complete F-35 flying training for future instructor, operation, and test pilots. The squadron is also planned to train partner nations and follow-on Air Force pilots.
“Our 23 instructor pilots are honing instructional skills while exercising all the aircraft capabilities and our maintenance professionals continue to refine training processes and convert maintainers from all over the Air Force into F-35 experts,” Lt. Col. Michael Ebner, 61st Fighter Squadron commander, said in a statement.
The first F-35 arrived at Luke AFB March 10, 2014 and is set to reach the 1,000th F-35 sortie in the next few weeks.
There are 20 F-35s assigned to Luke AFB, with two belonging to the Royal Australian Air Force, one of the F-35 pilot training partner nations.