AFMC Command News

  • 388th Fighter Wing standing up final F-35A aircraft maintenance unit

    HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- The 388th Fighter Wing recently began standing up the last of its aircraft maintenance units, a big step toward receiving the full complement of F-35A Lightning IIs by the end of 2019. The first operational F-35s landed at Hill Air Force Base in October 2015. Since then,

  • 388th Maintenance Group eying future time, cost savings with 3-D printing

    HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah, -- Inside a simple-looking building just off of Hill’s flight line, Airmen are tinkering with advanced technology to bring the future of cost-effective maintenance to America’s most advanced fighter aircraft.  The 388th Maintenance Group’s Air Force Repair and Enhancement

  • F-35 completes most comprehensive flight test program in aviation history

    The F-35 Integrated Test Force, based at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, has completed more than 65,000 test points, 9,200 test flights, and six major test aircraft detachments on board L-class and Nimitz class carriers on both U.S. coasts.

  • JSF pilot ensemble designed to keep out chemical, biological agents

    After several tests during the past six months to contaminate and decontaminate an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with simulated chemical and biological agents, the 461st Flight Test Squadron has now moved forward to testing a suit ensemble designed to protect the pilot from those threats. “Over a

  • Edwards test pilot first to reach 1,000 flight hours in Joint Strike Fighter

    Lockheed Martin test pilot David "Doc" Nelson became the first pilot to achieve 1,000 flight hours in the F-35 during a test sortie Jan. 6, 2017. He achieved the milestone during a 4.5-hour flight in AF-03, one of the 461st Flight Test Squadron’s Joint Strike Fighters used for developmental test

  • Edwards AFB reduces cost for fire suppression test

    Members of the F-35 Integrated Test Force developed a new funnel system that captures the foam or water deluge during required hangar fire-suppression system tests, saving $79,750 and several days of delay, which can be critically important for test programs.

  • Multiple F-35s take to the skies to test communication data links

    All three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are being used by the 461st Flight Test Squadron in recent multi-ship testing, which employs four or six jets to ensure communication systems between the planes are working properly and accurately. The F-35 contains state-of-the-art tactical data

  • F-35 prepared to undergo chemical, biological decontamination testing

    After years of preparation, the 461st Flight Test Squadron and Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Test Force are ready to test the F-35 Lightning II’s ability to be decontaminated from chemical and biological weapons exposure. Contractors, Airmen and Air Force civilians have been tirelessly working in