Media reported about the imminent arrival of the F-35 in Estonia
The fifth generation fighter F-35A Lightning II US air force will be deployed with the British air force base Lakenheath in Estonia on Tuesday, April 25, according to the website ERR.ee.
It is reported that the F-35 will take part in joint exercises with American units and allies. The exact number of moving machines is not specified.
Earlier, eight machines of this type and 250 personnel of the 34th squadron of the 388-th wing the United States air force and 466 squadron 419-th wing air force reserve US air base hill, Utah, were deployed in the UK. The first six cars, as noted by the famous aviation expert David Celotti in his blog, The Aviationist, arrived in the United Kingdom on 15 April.
In July 2016, the commander of the combat command, U.S. air force General Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, speaking to members of the military Committee of Congress, said:
We would like to F-35, for example, provided some support for the patrol over the Baltic sea.
“This is one of the tasks of NATO in the Baltic region — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And we would like there to demonstrate the F-35. Last week when I spoke with the commanders of the air force throughout Europe, they all showed extreme interest in the operational use of these aircraft in their countries,” added Carlisle.
In January, the U.S. air force first deployed the F-35 abroad. Squadron VMFA-121 aircraft of the marine Corps was stationed in Japan on an American military base Iwakuni in southern Honshu island.
F-35 Lightning II is a family of promising stealth multirole fighter fifth generation, the development of which since 2001 is engaged in Lockheed Martin. The fighter must be available in three variants: A (normal force), B (short takeoff and vertical landing for the marine corps) and C (for carrier-based naval aviation). The first squadron of F-35B aircraft, the Commission had reached combat readiness in August 2015, F-35A, the U.S. air force in August 2016.