{"id":36113,"date":"2024-06-20T18:52:54","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T18:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/06\/20\/us-prepares-to-open-new-training-site-for-foreign-f-35-pilots\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:23:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:23:42","slug":"us-prepares-to-open-new-training-site-for-foreign-f-35-pilots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2024\/06\/20\/us-prepares-to-open-new-training-site-for-foreign-f-35-pilots\/","title":{"rendered":"US prepares to open new training site for foreign F-35 pilots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new F-35 training site under construction in northwest Arkansas is preparing to welcome fighter pilots from around the world this fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ebbing Air National Guard Base will become the latest U.S.-based site dedicated to training foreign pilots across the global <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2024\/05\/16\/lockheed-running-out-of-parking-space-amid-f-35-delays-says-watchdog\/\" target=\"_blank\">F-35 Joint Strike Fighter<\/a> enterprise, which now encompasses more than 3,500 jets in 18 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/06\/04\/us-approves-location-for-singaporean-f-16-f-35-training\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/f16d_965035_425fs_20th_anniv_hi-res_mindef.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US approves location for Singaporean F-16, F-35 training<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Singapore\u2019s fleet of 12 F-16s is expected to begin arriving in 2023, and its first of up to 12 F-35Bs are to follow in 2026.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new hub will allow more instructor pilots from the U.S. \u2014 the largest member of the F-35 coalition at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2024\/06\/17\/how-many-f-35s-to-buy-draft-defense-bills-disagree\/\" target=\"_blank\">more than 2,400 jets<\/a> \u2014 to share their expertise with a rotating cast of nations who have less <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2023\/03\/31\/the-us-air-force-sent-f-35s-to-defend-nato-heres-what-it-learned\/\" target=\"_blank\">operational experience<\/a> with one of the world\u2019s most advanced fighters or lack the resources to host a multinational school of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2023\/03\/06\/preparing-for-russia-inside-nato-fighter-pilot-training-in-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\">Learning from the U.S.<\/a> can make the international coalition sharper in combat, Col. David Skalicky, who oversees the project as commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Florida\u2019s Eglin Air Force Base, told Air Force <a href=\"http:\/\/times.training\/\" target=\"_blank\">Times. <\/a>Military officials argue that familiarity can prove crucial if the countries must go to war together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is really about increasing the capability and capacity of our allies and partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"6754\" height=\"4507\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8394860.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-77733\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8394860.jpg.jpg 6754w, https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8394860.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8394860.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8394860.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8394860.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8394860.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1367 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 6754px) 100vw, 6754px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Maj. Gen. Ireneusz Nowak, inspector of the Polish Air Force, discusses updates to the U.S.-Poland F-35 foreign military sales program during a visit to Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on May 6, 2024. (Tech. Sgt. Christopher Sherlock\/Air National Guard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Poland is slated to arrive as the first foreign F-35 user on campus in September, followed by Finland, Germany, Switzerland and Singapore in the years ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They\u2019ll learn from the new 85th Fighter Group and 57th Fighter Squadron, expected to open at Ebbing July 2, an Air Force spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">F-35 pilots from Italy, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands already train at Arizona\u2019s Luke Air Force Base; Belgium is slated to begin lessons there as well. But Luke lacks the resources and room to welcome students from more than a dozen other countries, spurring the international coalition to look for another site where foreign pilots can learn from the Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Air Force tapped Ebbing to host the foreign training mission in March 2023 after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2021\/07\/13\/a-dozen-of-bidens-national-security-nominees-are-on-hold-in-the-senate\/\">fierce, yearslong lobbying effort<\/a> by Michigan\u2019s congressional delegation to bring the jets to Selfridge ANGB north of Detroit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Typically, foreign militaries learn from U.S. pilots at bases that are already operating the same aircraft. Not so for Ebbing, at which F-35 training will become the only on-site flying mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The base will build new F-35 pilots from scratch, with students who have already qualified to fly fighters but are getting their first taste of the fifth-generation plane itself, Skalicky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As many as 36 jets will arrive on base, including 24 F-35s. Ebbing will also host up to 12 F-16s as part of a Singaporean training unit that is transferring from Luke, said Col. Adam Rice, an Air Education and Training Command official tasked with coordinating the project\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force expects about four pilots will graduate from Ebbing in 2025 before growing to about three dozen graduates each year through the end of the decade, Rice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trainees will start their seven-month Joint Strike Fighter journey at Eglin \u2014 the Air Force\u2019s closest active duty F-35 site \u2014 where they\u2019ll be exposed to the F-35\u2032s controls and tactics in classroom lessons and simulated sorties. The program will be split between Eglin and Ebbing until the new location finishes building a simulator facility of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Florida, they\u2019ll jump from virtual takeoffs and landings to one-on-one aerial dogfights and multi-jet offensives, Skalicky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe usually progress from that point into surface attack [and] suppression of enemy air defense, as well as some higher mission sets like offensive counter-air, escorting strikers \u2026 or being part of a strike package,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After about three months, students will trek more than 700 miles to Ebbing for the second half of the course, when they\u2019ll take to the skies to practice what they\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rice said the project is working to expand the existing training airspace at Ebbing. The site may bring in low-cost threat emitters, or hardware that replicates surface-to-air missile systems so pilots can learn to evade enemy air defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Air Education and Training Command boss Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson \u201chas promised \u2018first-class\u2019 training, not \u2018world-class\u2019 training, at Ebbing,\u201d Rice said. \u201cIt won\u2019t be a training space like Nellis, for instance, but it will be good-quality training for the [foreign military sales] customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some who graduate will head back to their home countries, where they\u2019ll join their first F-35 units. Others will return to Eglin for further training to become instructor pilots in order to build their own domestic training pipelines, Skalicky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To transform the Air National Guard base of about 1,000 troops and civilian employees and an MQ-9 drone wing into a top-tier training range for high-tech fighters, the Air Force is embarking on a $850 million project that is expected to finish by the end of 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because the clock is ticking for troops to arrive at Ebbing, the Air Force plans to first host classes in an array of trailers and tension-fabric shelters on base. Those temporary facilities will tide over the training enterprise for a few years as the service renovates existing spaces like maintenance shops, while building Joint Strike Fighter-specific facilities for simulators and storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Singapore, whose forces will be permanently stationed at Ebbing, is bringing the F-35B, the vertical takeoff-and-landing version of the jet also flown by the U.S. Marine Corps. Because the Air Force\u2019s variant doesn\u2019t have the same capability, the service has to find other instructor pilots to help the Singaporeans, and ensure the flightline is reinforced with special concrete that can withstand the jet\u2019s forces, Rice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September, airmen from Eglin will hold a training exercise at Ebbing to wring out any issues at the site before foreign countries begin arriving later that month, Skalicky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there\u2019s still plenty of work ahead for the complicated project, which requires Air Force officials to weave the wants and needs of multiple countries into a cohesive training ground while navigating erratic congressional funding and a volatile construction market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPost-COVID, we\u2019ve had challenges with supply and demand, construction, laborers, you name it. We\u2019re still experiencing that across the enterprise,\u201d said Col. George Nichols, deputy director of facility engineering at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[I\u2019ve] been doing this for 23 years, and this is one of the most complex beddowns that we\u2019ve done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ebbing Air National Guard Base will become the latest U.S.-based site dedicated to training pilots across the global F-35 Joint Strike Fighter enterprise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,160,11,36,48,26,164],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3484],"class_list":["post-36113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-newsletters","category-the-americas","category-training-sim","category-training-simulation-report"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6DNVJO6GVFHYNIMXPGDZKRVLJ4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2024\/06\/20\/us-prepares-to-open-new-training-site-for-foreign-f-35-pilots\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US prepares to open new training site for foreign F-35 pilots - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ebbing Air National Guard Base will become the latest U.S.-based site dedicated to training pilots across the global F-35 Joint Strike Fighter enterprise.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2024\/06\/20\/us-prepares-to-open-new-training-site-for-foreign-f-35-pilots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US prepares to open new training site for foreign F-35 pilots\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ebbing Air National Guard Base will become the latest U.S.-based site dedicated to training pilots across the global F-35 Joint Strike Fighter enterprise.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2024\/06\/20\/us-prepares-to-open-new-training-site-for-foreign-f-35-pilots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-20T18:52:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T21:23:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel S. 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