アメリカ空軍、イールソン空軍基地にF-35AライトニングII配備を決定
アメリカ空軍は2016年4月4日(月)、太平洋地域のF-35AライトニングIIの配備基地として、アラスカ州のイールソン空軍基地(AFB)を選定していましたが、これを決定しました。基地選定時の2019年から遅れ、2020年配備としており、2個飛行隊の計48機が展開します。イールソンAFBは、この受け入れ準備として2017年度から、基地の整備を開始します。
アラスカには世界的にも訓練環境が整い、戦略的な重要な位置にあることがあげられています。特に、イールソンAFB近くに多数の演習場があるほか、大規模な演習が可能な「Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex(JPARC)」があり、現実的な訓練を積み重ねることができるとしています。
なお、F-16ファイティング・ファルコンの第18仮想敵飛行隊(18AGRS)が配備されており、この部隊は引き続きF-35Aと共にイールソンAFBに配備されます。
アメリカ太平洋空軍はイールソンAFBのF-35Aの配備とあわせ、エルメンドルフ・リチャードソン統合基地に配備するF-22ラプターと組み合わせ、太平洋地域での第五世代戦闘機の存在感を高めるとしています。
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Eielson selected to receive operational F-35A aircraft
WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, was selected as the new home for the Air Force’s first operational overseas F-35A Lightning IIs.
Air Force officials chose Eielson AFB after a lengthy analysis of the location’s operational considerations, installation attributes, environmental factors and cost.
“Alaska combines a strategically important location with a world-class training environment. Basing the F-35s at Eielson AFB will allow the Air Force the capability of using the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) for large force exercises using a multitude of ranges and maneuver areas in Alaska,” said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. "This, combined with the largest airspace in the Air Force, ensures realistic combat training for the (Defense Department).”
Proximity to the JPARC will enable the Air Force to take advantage of approximately 65,000 square miles of available airspace for realistic, world-class training in the Air Force’s most advanced fifth-generation fighter.
The decision culminates a three-year process that included an extensive environmental impact statement that examined impacts on such factors as air quality, noise, land use and socioeconomics.
"The decision to base two F-35 squadrons at Eielson AFB, Alaska, combined with the existing F-22 Raptors at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, will double our fifth-generation fighter aircraft presence in the Pacific theater," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III. "Integrating that fifth-generation force with Navy, Marine, and allied F-35 forces will provide joint and coalition warfighters unprecedented survivability, lethality and battlespace awareness in contested environments. It's an exciting time for Pacific airpower."
The base is projected to receive two squadrons of F-35As, which will join the wing’s F-16 Fighting Falcon aggressor squadron currently assigned to Eielson AFB.
On-base construction to prepare for the aircraft is expected to start in fiscal year 2017 in order to be ready to accept the first F-35As, which are currently scheduled to begin arriving in 2020.
Preliminary estimates had the new aircraft arriving a year earlier, but officials say the 2020 arrival will provide the Air Force more time and grow its active-duty maintenance force.
“The Air Force is facing a shortage of experienced, active-duty fighter aircraft maintainers as we transition from legacy aircraft to the F-35A,” said Lt. Gen. John B. Cooper, the deputy chief of staff the Air Force for logistics, installations and mission support. “Adjusting the initial plan and slightly accelerating F-35A arrivals at Burlington Air Guard Station, Burlington, Vermont, to fall 2019 will allow the service to stick to the overall F-35 rollout schedule, while capitalizing on the Air National Guard’s experienced fighter aircraft maintenance force as we put additional measures in place to increase the number of trained active-duty maintainers.”
The F-35A, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, is a fifth-generation fighter aircraft intended to be the Air Force’s premier strike aircraft through the first half of the 21st century. It is a multi-role fighter that is expected to eventually replace the service’s legacy air-to-ground fighter fleets.