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  • 53rd Wing begins F-35 operational test, evaluation

    The 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron kicked off the Defense Department’s F-35 Lightning II Initial Operational Test and Evaluation with a large force employment sortie from Edwards AFB, California, Dec. 5.

  • Hill AFB, UTTR evaluation exercises close

    Evaluation exercises Combat Hammer and Combat Archer ended August 18 at Hill AFB and the Utah Test and Training Range. Both are part of the Weapons System Evaluation Program, or WSEP.

  • F-35As fly in weapons evaluation

    The F-35A Lightning II aircraft flew for the first time during the 53rd Wing's Combat Hammer, the first operational air-to-ground weapons evaluation.

  • Bring down the hammer

    Fishing boats equipped with makeshift machine guns and weapons to resemble ‘pirate boats’ invaded the area by the Midbay Bridge between Niceville and Destin Feb. 6. This was a scene from Combat Hammer, the 86th Fighter Weapons Squadron’s annual multi-service exercise to evaluate weapons

  • Grim Reaper finds his rage

    For only the second time here, a Naval aviator has been selected to dual qualify in the U.S. Navy’s F-35C and the Air Force’s F-35A.

  • Nomads fire first missiles

    The 33rd Fighter Wing loaded and shot the first air-to-air missiles from an operational F-35A during a weapons system evaluation at Tyndall Air Force Base, Jan. 31, 2017. Individual AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM) were loaded into four separate aircraft.

  • Lightning strikes at largest F-35A deployment

    The 33rd Fighter Wing wrapped up the largest F-35 deployment to date at this year’s Exercise Northern Lightning Aug. 31 at Volk Field, Wis. Northern Lightning is a tactical-level, joint training exercise which serves as a combat rehearsal for both legacy and modern aerial and ground assets in a

  • 33rd FW reaches record number of F-35A sorties

    Members of the 33rd Fighter Wing set a new record of 111 sorties over three days during a sortie surge Aug. 1-3 here.   The purpose of a sortie surge is to test the readiness of maintainers, pilots and aircraft to meet the needs of high-tempo operations. “Thanks to the Nomads for their tremendous

  • F-35 Weapons Load

    Airmen from the 33rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron load an AIM-9X missile on to a F-35A’s external weapons pylon July 20, 2016 here. This milestone was the first time an F-35A here was loaded with internal and external weapons and will help develop weapon-loading procedures for the F-35 program. The