Photo By Senior Airman Briana Beavers | U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. John Matchett, 33rd Operations Group deputy commander and...... read more read more
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NAVAL AIR STATION KEY WEST, Fla. – The 33rd Fighter Wing Nomads traveled to Naval Air Station Key West, Florida during the month of February to accomplish routine training for Operation Southern Edge 2025.
NAS Key West’s airspace provided the 58th and 60th Fighter Squadrons, along with their Aircraft Maintenance Units, an opportunity to deploy 14 F-35A Lightning II aircraft to execute flying-training missions while avoiding weather attrition at home station.
“We usually have adverse weather this time of year up at Eglin, and we came to Key West because the weather patterns are more favorable,” said Capt. Brandon Bylina, 58th FS F-35 instructor pilot. “This weather allows us to fly more and stay ahead of our training timeline.”
To save TDY costs, the aircraft and equipment remained in place all month.
“The benefit of having both squadrons at Key West during different times is saving about $70,000 in cargo cost,” said Maj. James Chambers, 60th FS pilot. “The 58th took the equipment to Key West and the 60th will be responsible for bringing it back.”
While on TDY, both squadrons focused on pilot production and completing syllabus training for their F-35 Basic and Transition Course students.
“We have six B-course students who are fresh out of pilot training that we take through the full gamut of F-35 mission sets,” Bylina said. “On the other hand, we have two [transition course] students who are both prior A-10 pilots but have limited experience in a fighter jet.”
The 60th FS students executed simulated offensive and defensive counter air sorties as a part of that training.
“We’re enhancing our lethality by integrating with other units during the second week of our TDY doing OCA and DCA missions,” Chambers said. “Specifically, the type of airframes we will be working with are F-15s, F-16s, Navy F-18s, and Marine F-35s.”
While the fighter squadrons established a training rhythm, the AMUs focused on preparation and timely maintenance to generate reliable F-35s.
“Working away from home station is different, so planning is similar to deployment prepping when deciding how to operate efficiently,” said Capt. Benjamin Waters, 58th AMU officer in charge. “To mitigate potential risks, we built up a pack-up-kit, or a list of parts, to outline equipment that commonly breaks on the jet.”
The off-station training also served as an opportunity to promote unit cohesion and morale for over 300 deployed members.
“Everyone here has earned the right to be here,” Waters said. “We get to focus on executing the mission away from any distractions, and then we take those lessons and morale that we get down here and bring it back home.”
During their short time at NAS Key West, the Nomads conducted over 200 sorties and flew nearly 400 hours resulting in a 25% increase in sortie production by the end of the operation.
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.25.2025 09:44 |
| Story ID: | 492256 |
| Location: | NAVAL AIR STATION KEY WEST, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 181 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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