Completes First F-35A And C Modifications

The first Air Force F-35A Lightning II, AF-10, inducted at Fleet Readiness Center East for modifications, departed for the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, on June 7, 2018.

The departure of the jet represents another successful milestone, demonstrating FRC East depot capability to perform heavy maintenance at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point.  The Depot has now received, modified and returned all variants of the fifth generation aircraft.

FRC East is the primary depot source of repair for both F-35B and F-35C variant workloads, while serving as a backup depot repair facility for the F-35A variant.

The command inducted the first A- and C-variants in August and November 2017, respectively. The aircraft underwent structural, mechanical and software modifications to standardize these aircraft to the current production configurations.  The modifications improve capability and increase lethality of the F-35 variants.

The F-35C, Navy variant, is one of the 10 aircraft designated by the Navy to meet its goal of initial operating capability by August 2018.

“FRC East has successfully demonstrated capability on all F-35 variants,” said Donald Jeter, F-35 Program manager.

(Image provided with NAVAIR news release)

FMI: www.navair.navy.mil