Air Force F-35 completes first test flight

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This Air Force version of the F-35 Lightning II completed a test flight from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, April 20, 2010. The F-35 is the first aircraft to be developed to meet the needs of three services - the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps - and U.S. allies, with variants being developed simultaneously by prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

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F-35 Lightning II

This Air Force version of the F-35 Lightning II completed a test flight from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, April 20, 2010. The F-35 is the first aircraft to be developed to meet the needs of three services - the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps - and U.S. allies, with variants being developed simultaneously by prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

WASHINGTON - The Air Force version of the F-35A flew for an hour April 20 from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, becoming the seventh F-35 Lightning II to fly.

AF-2, the conventional takeoff and landing aircraft, is the Air Force's version of the Joint Strike Fighter. This fifth-generation fighter is the first one to carry an internal GAU-22/A 25-millimeter Gatling gun weapon system.

"The first flight of AF-2 is a significant achievement for the F-35 program, the U.S. Air Force and our international partners who will operate the F-35A," said James "Sandy" Sandstrom, Lockheed Martin's F-35 U.S. Air Force program manager. "This aircraft is configured to test and verify the multiple weapons loads that will deliver fifth generation combat capability to the warfighter.

Alaska Army National Guard Chief Warrant Officer 2 David Berg, a UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter pilot, assigned to A Company, 1-168th General Support Aviation Battalion, conducts flight operations over Southeast Alaska near Juneau, Jan. 24, 2025. The Juneau-based Black Hawk aircrew conducts their federal mission training requirements and, when available, can respond to emergency requests by the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center or the State Emergency Operations Center.

Alaska Army National Guard Conducts Medevac Mission

By Dana Rosso, | June 5, 2025

JUNEAUA, Alaska – A UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter assigned to A Company, 1-168th General Support Aviation Battalion, transported a patient from Skagway to Juneau June 3, following a medical evacuation request from the Alaska...

U.S. Air National Guard civilian firefighters, assigned to the Vermont Air National Guard Fire Department, pose in front of the fire truck that was the first on scene, South Burlington, VT, June 4, 2025. These firefighters provided the first fire truck on scene to a local fire.

Vermont Air Guard First on Scene of South Burlington Fire

By Airman Raymond LaChance, | June 4, 2025

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – Doireann Chesbrough, a civilian firefighter for the Vermont Air National Guard Fire Department, was sitting next to the radio in the dayroom of the station as the sun began to set over the Green...

Paratroopers from the Colorado National Guard and the Jordanian Armed Forces stand together before the first joint Colorado-Jordan airborne Friendship Jump, Watkins, Colorado, April 23, 2025. Members parachuted from a CH-47 Chinook as part of an event to strengthen interoperability and deepen the partnership between the two forces.

Airborne Operation Strengthens Colorado Guard, Jordan Partnership

By Senior Airman Melissa Escobar-Pereira, | June 4, 2025

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – In a display of cooperation and capability, Soldiers from the Colorado Army National Guard and the Jordanian Armed Forces recently conducted a joint airborne operation in Watkins, Colorado.The April 23...

Air Force F-35 completes first test flight

Alaska Army National Guard Conducts Medevac Mission

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500 Soldiers from New York's 42nd Infantry Division Deploying

Air National Guard Defenders Tested in Exercise Tinman 25