F-35B: the transatlantic flight from Italy to the United States ended

(To air Force)
02/02/18

The first F-35B assembled outside the United States landed yesterday in Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland (USA), after completing the Atlantic crossing from Cameri Military Airport.

The fifth generation aircraft, delivered to the Navy last 25 January at the FACO plant (Final Assembly and Check Out) of Cameri and intended to operate on board ship Cavour in place of the AV-8B More, will now be subjected to electromagnetic compatibility certification tests at the test center Battlespace Simulation. At the end of the testing activity, the aircraft will be assigned to the USMC base in Beaufort (SC) for the training of the pilots of the Aerei Imbarcati Group.

The transfer flight of the F-35 STOVL (Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing) version was the result of a close cooperation and coordination between the Italian Navy and the Air Force. The Atlantic crossing was in fact carried out by two experimental military pilots, one of the Air Force and one of the Navy, both in force at the Experimental Flight Department of the Air Force, a Defense Excellence Center entitled for experimentation and entry into service activities. of new aircraft assets. The long navigation of the F-35B was made possible thanks to the support of the assets of the Italian Air Force, including a C-130J aircraft of the 46 ^ Air Brigade of Pisa configured with oceanic SAR (Search And Rescue) capability, a KC -767A of the 14 ° Stormo di Pratica di Mare (RM) for refueling in flight and a TF-2000A aircraft of the 4th Stormo of Grosseto with chase functions.

The F-35 final assembly plants outside the United States are two, that of Cameri, in the province of Novara, and that of Nagoya, in Japan. However, Cameri is the only one able to perform the assembly of the B version of the F-35. The 7 September 2015 the first F-35A produced in Italy at the FACO of Cameri made the first international flight in the history of the program, while in February 2016 the Air Force was the first Armed Force in the world to realize the transatlantic flight of an F-35A. In December 2016, the first F-35A of the Italian Air Force entered service at the 36 ° Wing of Amendola (FG), the first air base in Europe to host these fifth-generation aircraft, and since then have already matured 1.700 hours of flight.