Photo By Julie Paroline | Brig. Gen. Henry Harder, assistant adjutant general - air, Vermont National Guard,...... read more read more
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During a visit with Vermont Air National Guardsmen, Brig. Gen. Henry Harder, the assistant adjutant general - air, Vermont National Guard, saw firsthand their participation in an F-35 Lightning II weapon system validation exercise at Tyndall Air Force Base during the end of January 2021.
"The real joy of being able to come down here is to see the women and men of the 158th Fighter Wing in action in all AFSCs, all jobs. Being able to visit with the Airmen and see them doing what they train to do back home is a pleasure and an honor," reflected Harder.
More than 150 Airmen participated in this two-week training event to validate and verify weapon system performance. While at Tyndall, Harder visited different work areas and met with Airmen assigned to the wing and its 134th Fighter Squadron.
"It's great to see the Airmen of all ages and experience levels be down here and doing an incredible job, which was recognized by the program evaluators at Tyndall. They saw the performance of our Airmen, the pilots, the maintainers and the support folks, and called it outstanding," said Harder. "The women and men of the 158th Fighter Wing have performed flawlessly, and it is a real treat to watch them in action."
This particular weapons system evaluation marked an important step for the 158th Fighter Wing declaring mission ready in the F-35.
"It's an important program. This trip to Tyndall is all about evaluating our Airmen and our aircraft, and everything in between," said Harder. "Tyndall's a great place to train. It's never easy to leave home for a couple weeks, but it allows the Airmen to really focus on that business-end of training, maintaining, flying and fighting with the F-35."
This evaluation marks another milestone on the 158th Fighter Wing's path towards mission ready in the F-35, as they are now less than a year away from their anticipated end of conversion. This timeline signifies when they are expected to become fully mission capable to deploy worldwide in support of combatant commanders and U.S. allies.
"It’s fun to be here as part of the team and watch this amazing team perform,” concluded Harder.
| Date Taken: | 02.03.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.03.2021 14:16 |
| Story ID: | 388264 |
| Location: | TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 106 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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F-35 Lightning II
