Joint U.S.-Britain military exercises integrate F-35B, F-35C fighter jets

Aircrafts from the U.S. Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group and Britain's U.K. Carrier Strike Group 21 have conducted joint military exercises for the first time, the U.S. Navy announced.

The two strike groups completed the joint interoperability flights in the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet on Aug. 26. During the flights, the aircraft conducted missions intended to validate joint integration techniques and procedures, such as mid-air refueling.

The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group was embarked with aircrafts from the Carrier Air Wing Two that included four F-35C Lightning IIs, five F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, two EA-18G Growlers and one E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.

The U.K. Carrier Strike Group 21 aircraft included a total of four F-35Bs from two different squadrons.

"Integrating British and U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs into a flight with U.S. Navy F-35Cs continues to reinforce the tactical flexibility and interoperability of the F-35," Col. Simon Doran, U.S. senior national representative to the U.K. Carrier Strike Group, said Wednesday in a press release.

"Additionally, the mission further demonstrates the F-35s ability to support distributed maritime operations," Doran said.

Capt. Tommy Locke, commander of the Carrier Air Wing Two, said in a statement that the exercises combined the fight generation capabilities of a joint strike fighter aircraft from two services and a partner nation with the capabilities of the entire air wing.

He said the exercise demonstrated the value of having agile fifth-generation maritime power in the Indo-Pacific region.

The training was also the first time the U.K. Carrier Strike Group 21 engaged with the F-35 "C" model assigned to Carrier Air Wing Two. Previously, Britain's two F-35B squadrons had been deployed together with the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Related Links
Aerospace News at SpaceMart.com

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Philippine military aircraft crashed after 'unrecoverable stall': armed forces
Manila (AFP) Sept 2, 2021
A Philippine aircraft carrying soldiers crashed in July after an "unrecoverable stall", killing more than 50 people in one of the country's worst military air disasters, the armed forces said Thursday. The C-130 Hercules transport plane was loaded with nearly a hundred people, most of them fresh army graduates, when it overshot the runway while trying to land on the southern island of Jolo in Sulu province. Most of the dead were soldiers being deployed to the island - a haven for Islamist mili ... read more