Alright from
JANE'S the following country has reached
FOC with their
F-35A fighters.
NORWAY
The last Norwegian
F-16AM/BM fighters were also
fully retired on 06 JAN 2022 to coincide with the F-35A fighters' operations for Norway.
https://www.janes.com/defence-news/a...al-air-defence
Do not for one second "
assume" that these or
any foreign governments
F-35 versions are as
fully capable as ours.
We currently have
several modification contracts running through
2024+ for our F-35 versions before they reach FOC. See
Contract section below in a "[b]sparse open read/B]" in which you'll see as I had already posted
we're experiencing an engine shortage that'll cut into
20% of our fleet by 2025.
"
February 17/21: Engine Shortage F-35 fighter plane engines are in short supply external link, with the solution months away, causing the Defense Department to reduce its schedule of exhibition flights and to start planning for a
shortage as soon as
2022. The Defense Department’s F-35 office has advised that about
five to six percent of the US. F-35 fleet could be
without useable engines by
2022, and
up to 20 percent of the plane’s fleet could be
sidelined by 2025. According to Defense News external link, the F-135 Heavy Maintenance Center, located at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, has been
unable to process engines for repairs and maintenance, and catching up will take months."
Thought I'd save you some time.
I already addressed the
NAVAIR/USMC decision (
POST 643 above.) for the
F-35B. It's I'm sure an honor for the
USMC pilots to do some of the "real world"
OPEVAL testing for the
USAF and
USN until theirs reach
FOC.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...m-edit-037947/
TRACKING the NETHERLANDS for FOC.
Regards,
Pat
