Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 34th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron departs after conducting an aerial refueling with A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 28th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron above the Arabian Gulf, Dec. 3, 2019.KC-135 AOR refueling mission
                        
                        
                        An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 34th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron departs after conducting an aerial refueling with a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 28th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron above the Arabian Gulf, Dec. 3, 2019. The KC-135 Stratotanker delivers U.S. Air Forces Central Command a global reach of aerial refueling to support joint and coalition aircraft, providing war-winning airpower throughout the CENTCOM area of responsibility. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Snider)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Hill AFB Airmen demonstrate combat flexibility, reliability of F-35 during deploymentsPublished Aug. 19, 2020
                    
                    By  Micah Garbarino
            **HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFNS) --**For 16 months, Airmen from the388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base have been deployed in combat with the F-35A Lightning II and they continue to find ways to improve the capability of America’s most advanced fifth-generation fighter.



Each of the wing’s three squadrons, alongside Reservists from the419th Fighter Wing, have deployed in support of the Air Force Central Command mission at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates. The 4th Fighter Squadron, deployed in April 2019, was the first. The 34th FS deployed in October 2019 and returned home in June and July. The 421st FS is currently deployed.



“Our Airmen continue to carry out the combat mission the Air Force asks of us,” saidCol. Steven Behmer, 388th FW commander. “Not only that, but they are truly on the leading edge of developing how our service employs this very capable fighter, now and in the future.”



The building blocks the 4th FS deployment put in place, helped when the 34th FS was tasked with the first short-notice F-35 deployment, and the largest F-35 combat deployment to date.



“I was flying a local exercise sortie at Hill (AFB) at the time. I got recalled by the command post while I was airborne to return to base,” said Lt. Col. Aaron Cavazos, 34th FS commander. “That normally means somebody got hurt or we’re being deployed. It ended up being that we were heading out for AFCENT on a short-notice tasking. A couple weeks later we had people flying combat sorties.”



When the squadron arrived at Al Dhafra (AB), they generated their first combat sortie within 24 hours, and they didn’t lose a single sortie to a maintenance issue for the next eight months.



“During this deployment we demonstrated to senior leaders in theater what we’ve known to be true: the F-35 is formidable, it is adaptable and it is less needy in terms of maintenance than people may expect,” said Capt. Susan McLeod, officer in charge of the 34th Aircraft Maintenance Unit.



The squadron demonstrated the flexibility of the multi-role F-35. On a given day, pilots performed strafing runs on close air support missions, and maritime escorts for U.S. Navy carrier strike groups.



“We proved the F-35 can carry out a variety of missions,” Cavazos said. “While the F-35 is just another asset to be tasked, there are some other cool fifth-generation capabilities that we bring to the table and have to be used the correct way. We can go take away a chunk of airspace at a moment’s notice and give it back at a later point if we want to. It was a pretty neat role to be able to support AFCENT and we're doing our best to communicate to combatant commands exactly what we can offer them.”



The deployment was the first time an F-35A unit successfully sustained agile basing at a forward location. For more than three months, a third of the squadron forward deployed and flew missions from an undisclosed location. The groundwork for how to implement agile basing was laid by the 421st FS during the “Rapid Forge” exercise in Europe last year.



This agile basing construct gave AFCENT the ability to “project power across thousands of miles and numerous countries with a single fighter unit,” Cavazos said.



“We now have unpredictability against potential adversaries,” Cavazos said. “They are so used to us showing up in country, staying in the same place for half a year, doing the same things, and leaving. They know it. We know it. Now we proved we can be more agile. That principal can carry over operationally to other regions and any potential adversaries there.”



Some doubted that split operations could be successfully sustained, Cavazos said. But even with a deployment extended months longer by the coronavirus pandemic, (which also slowed global supply chains) the maintainers were able to support every operational requirement.



“To support the forward-deployed location and the extension to our deployment at the same time was a challenge,” said Senior Master Sgt. Westley Calloway, 34th AMU lead production superintendent. “We had to think creatively to solve logistics and communication challenges, because in a lot of ways, we’re writing the playbook. But once those chains were established, we were able to maintain the health of our fleet and complete every task asked of us.”



The deployment experience wasn’t just a success operationally, but also helped young pilots and maintainers experience joint operations, the unpredictable nature of warfare, and will increase confidence and perspective, Cavazos said.



“We’re becoming our own F-35 community. We aren’t just a hodgepodge from other airframes anymore,” Cavazos said. “It’s really cool to have that experience with the younger guys in the squadron and see them progress on their first deployment.”LR 



USAF 



AF 



Air Force 



Air Force Central Command 



AFCENT 



Hill AFB 



388th Fighter Wing 



419th Fighter Wing 



F-35A Lightning II 



4th Fighter Squadron 



421st Fighter Squadron 



34th Fighter Squadron Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fight
                    
                    SecAF Kendall AFA Warfare Symposium Q&A: Reoptimizing for Great Power CompetitionInnovation
                AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalists
                    
                    Chief Digital, Artificial Intelligence Office to host hackathon in HawaiiMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil