By: Wording OD
Japanese pilots will fly the F-35A Lightning II fighter jet for the first time by year’s end, according to a Lockheed Martin spokesman who was in Tokyo this week to meet with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The first four stealth planes earmarked for Japan will roll off a production line in Fort Worth, Texas, in November, said Eric W. Schnaible, the company’s F-35 international communications manager. Schnaible will also visit Nagoya and Misawa facilities associated with the aircraft later this month. Japanese pilots are slated to take off in the jets for the first time at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., where Australian, Norwegian and Italian personnel are already learning to pilot the F-35, he said.
