Interview: USMC Col. Art Tomassetti
22 August 2013
Throughout all of his follow-on assignments since being a test pilot on the X-35, Tomassetti continued to be part of test events, working groups, and design reviews for the F-35.
F-117 Photos
23 July 2013
Although retired in 2008, the F-117 Nighthawk would be the basis upon which subsequent stealth fighters, including the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II, would be designed. As remarked during a banquet celebrating the plane’s achievements in 2008, before the F-117, the question to ask was how many aircraft were needed to take out a target. After the Nighthawk, the question was how many targets could be taken out with a single aircraft.
Royal Thai Air Force Centennial Falcon
16 July 2013
Thailand traces its aviation history all the way back to 1912 when three of its military officers—Maj. Luang Sakdi Sanlayawut, Capt. Luang Arwut Likitkam, and Capt. Tip Ketuthat—earned their wings after successfully completing flight training in France. Their achievements made Thailand—then called Siam—the first country in Southeast Asia with a military flying unit.
F-35 Pilot Roster
30 May 2013
F-35 Program Surpasses 100 pilots
Total Force Integration
25 May 2013
The 301st FW has been moving toward Total Force Integration concept of operations since September 2007 when then Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley announced the 301st would be one of the Active Association homes of TFI.
Skunk Works ARES
24 May 2013
The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, has a reputation for applying innovative solutions to practical problems. Getting personnel and vehicles off of roads with known threats, such as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, is one such problem. DARPA is addressing this problem in a program called ARES.
Dyess C-130J JPADS
15 May 2013
The Joint Precision Airdrop System, or JPADS, is a multipart, GPS-based method that allows for highly accurate parachute airdrop of cargo loads of various sizes from altitudes as high as 25,000 feet. And, with only a forty-minute flying time from Dyess AFB, Texas, to the extensive training ranges and drop zones at Fort Hood, the 317th Airlift Group has become a recognized leader in C-130 precision airdrop operations.
F-35 Flight Testing At Edwards
13 May 2013
For most of 2012, the ITF operated six F-35As assigned to Edwards—three for flight sciences testing and three for mission systems testing. By the end of 2013, the ITF will be operating three additional F-35s—two F-35Bs and one F-35C, for a total of nine F-35s.
F-35 Flight Test Update 10
11 May 2013
The F-35 Flight Test Update in the Volume 27, Number 3 issue of Code One concluded with the first aerial release of an AIM-120 AMRAAM on 19 October 2012. This tenth installment in the series of flight test updates on the F-35 program covers numerous other weapon releases as well as other achievements of the F-35 Integrated Test Force located at Edwards AFB, California, and at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.
F-111 Photos
31 January 2013
The F-111 was a medium-range interdiction and tactical strike aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare in its various versions. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, the aircraft first entered service in 1967 with the United States Air Force. A total of 563 F-111s rolled off the production line in Fort Worth, Texas.