US Navy’s F-35C C conducts flight operations at sea on the USS Carl Vinson

The US Navy's F-35C recently completed day and night flight operations at sea with the USS Carl Vinson. The F-35 based out of Lemore NAS is part of the Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 125 aka 'The Rough Raiders". The 125th previously flew F-18's and was re-activated as a F-35 squadron in January of this year. It seems the Carl Vinson will be the first West Coast carrier to field a F-35 squadron in 2019 after it comes out of overhaul.

I'm going to have to spend a bit more time spotting next time I am in the Central Valley it seems.

www.naval-technology.com...

a reply to: FredT

They're sending 12 A models out of Hill to Kadena for six months.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: FredT

They're sending 12 A models out of Hill to Kadena for six months.

I saw that. Thats a sizeable strike force for sure and a good opportunity for JSDF to check out their new rides. Are the USMC's B's still deployed?

a reply to: FredT

They're permanently based at Iwakuni. They took over for the forward deployed AV-8s that were based there. They may rotate other units through, but they'll always be there.

ok , this is way off topic but I just can't keep quit about it anymore.

Every time I hear or read the name carl vinson I get a chill. A feeling like that ship is going to be involved in something world changing. I have no idea why I feel this way but at least I now have that feeling on record.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

He's from Georgia and he's white and from a previous era. His name being the namesake of a capital ship will surely offend someone and then it will be the center of a controversy. That's by bet. Hopefully it just retires when we're all old and dead having never been used.

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Good to see the C quietly chugging along. I've long thought it would be the best model and it has the chance to really revolutionize naval strategy. The fact that it will be augmented by Bs and rhinos will only make it better.

a reply to: Caughtlurking

Just make sure we don't deploy it to the middle east or Africa. That would be racist. Liberals don't care about racism against Asians, so having it over there is not a problem.