FEATURES First aerial photoshoot.
Welcoming the UK’s next generation combat air capability
By Chief of Staff,Lightning Force Headquarters
2018 is set to be an exciting year for RAF Marham with the anticipated arrival of the F-35 Lightning from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina, where UK personnel are currently generating the UK’s first front-line squadron, 617 Squadron, the Dambusters. If you have visited RAF Marham recently you will have noticed asignificant number of changes amidst ahive of activity including the construction of new buildings, runway resurfacing to support the UK’s next generation combat air capability.
Lightning is an advanced, 5th Generation aircraft which will operate alongside
12 Envoy Winter 2017
RAF Typhoons. It is amulti-role combat aircraft, meaning that asingle aircraft can conduct the roles and missions of different aircraft types simultaneously. These include air-to-air operations, air-to-surface operations and intelligence gathering. Rather than using arange of aircraft to complete these tasks, Lightning would be able to do them all. With advanced sensors, mission systems and low-observable technology,often known as stealth, Lightning is a5th Generation air system which will provide the UK with aworld-beating combat air capability.
Whilst RAF Marham will form the Main Operating Base for Lightning, the aircraft will be able to operate from land and sea, and will form an integral part of
Carrier Strike operating from the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers. Initial flight trials of Lightning aircraft from HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH are on track for 2018. The Lightning programme is jointly manned by both Royal Air Force and Royal Navy personnel. Both Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots will operate the aircraft from land and sea supported by both Royal Air Force and Royal Navy personnel across adiverse range of trades.
UK personnel are also supporting Lightning at 2other locations in the United States. First, as part of 17 (Reserve) Squadron, at Edwards Air Force Base in California, conducting flight and weapons test and evaluation trials and second,
raf-ff.org.uk
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