Draft:Joint Strike Fighter Wing

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Joint Strike Fighter Wing
Active1 October 2018 - Present
Country United States
Branch United States Navy
TypeFighter/Attack
RoleType Wing
Garrison/HQNAS Lemoore
Motto(s)"Victoria per Furtim" (Latin for "Victory through Stealth")
Websitehttps://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/Joint-Strike-Fighter-Wing/
Commanders
CommanderCPT. Barrett "Farva" Smith
Command Master ChiefCMDCM. Andres R. Rallojay
Aircraft flown
FighterF-35C Lightning II

Joint Strike Fighter Wing (JSFW) (aka Joint Strike Fighter Wing, Pacific, and JSFWING) is the U.S. Navy's Fifth-generation fighter squadron wing. It oversees 4 squadrons that all fly the F-35C Lightning II. The wing, based at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California, is also home to the West Coast F-35C Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) VFA-125, which is the only F-35C FRS in the US Navy. It trains pilots in the jet before they get to be assigned to operational fleet squadrons.

History

The Joint Strike Fighter Wing was established on 1 October 2018 at NAS Lemoore under Commander, Joint Strike Fighter Wing, to oversee training and mission readiness of all F-35C squadrons as the US Navy increased its inventory of that aircraft.[1] It was established around the same time that VFA-125 and VFA-147 were transitioned to the F-35C Lightning II.[2] The vision statement of JSFW is to create warfighting readiness for all F-35C squadrons and make them into professional, successful, deployable combat forces.[3]

Mission

When it was first established in 2018, the initial objective of JSFW was to get VFA-147 ready for operational testing and for its upcoming Initial Operational Capability (IOC) declaration.[1] The unit passed all testing and achieved IOC on 28 February 2019.[4] JSFWING's current broad mission is to provide the US Navy Carrier Air Wings (CVWs) with combat-ready Fifth-generation fighter squadrons. Currently, the only aircraft the US Navy flies that classifies as a 5th generation fighter is the F-35C Lightning II. The wing trains the pilots in its squadrons for Electronic attack and Strike fighter missions. JSFW is in charge of operating F-35C Fleet Replacement Squadrons. The only F-35C FRS is currently VFA-125 based at NAS Lemoore. JSFW has also been tasked with meeting Naval Aviation Enterprise requirements to qualify its aircraft as Ready for Tasking (RFT).[3] RFT is similar to the classification of Full Mission Capable (FMC) but is less demanding and only requires that a fraction of all aircraft in the command can perform a given mission at a time. For example, a F/A-18E/F Super Hornet on a precision strike mission could be designated as RFT even if it would not be able to perform aerial refueling, another of its missions, on the same flight.[5]

Assigned units

Joint Strike Fighter Wing exercises command over 3 operational squadrons and 1 FRS squadron (VFA-125).[3] The squadrons in the following list are organized chronologically from top to bottom based on when they transitioned to the F-35C Lightning II. The year they became a F-35C squadron is listed in parentheses.[2][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Eckstein, Megan (29 November 2018). "Navy Stands Up Joint Strike Fighter Wing to Oversee F-35C Operations, Training, Manning". USNI News. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b Keijsper, Gerard (21 February 2023). "US Navy and USMC F-35B/C Squadrons: A Complete Guide". Key Aero. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Joint Strike Fighter Wing - About Us". Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  4. ^ Donald, David (1 March 2019). "F-35C Achieves IOC; Singapore Details Initial F-35 Buy". Aviation International News. Archived from the original on 5 August 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  5. ^ Brooks, Bradley A. (1 February 2013). "Correlation of Ready for Tasking to Full Mission Capable Metrics for F/A-18E/F" (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. Archived from the original on 5 August 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 86". The Wayback Machine. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
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