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Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Divsion based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, has developed a Joint Simulation Environment trainer to task F-35 Lightning II pilots with fighting and eluding near-peer threats.

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Simple Fix Prevents Catastrophic F-35 Accident

A simple, “washer-like” design helped avoid a serious F-35 Lightning II accident in mid-October and enabled an uneventful landing at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina.

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The F/A-18: A New Generation of Air Dominance

Born out of necessity and innovation, the Navy’s F/A-18 Hornet introduced a level of aircraft superiority that had not been seen before and set the standard for future development of next-gen fighters. Now, celebrating the 45th anniversary of its first flight Nov. 18, the original strike fighter aircraft is affectionately referred to as the “Legacy.”

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Self-Proclaimed ‘Biggest Fan’ of E-2 Aircraft Visits NAS Patuxent River for Tour

John Engelbrecht has a favorite hat and shirt—both have embroidered images of the E-2C Hawkeye aircraft on them. Engelbrecht, who turned 90 in March, loves to watch E-2 videos on the military channel, and there is no topic of conversation he likes more than the E-2C and the 25 years he spent as an engineer providing technical support for the system.

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Airborne Strategic Command, Control and Communications Program Slashes E-6B Mod Times

The Navy this summer accepted the first Block II E-6B Mercury upgraded entirely by Northrop Grumman Corp., an initiative that is slashing modification times thanks to practices implemented by the Airborne Strategic Command, Control and Communications Program Office.

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Training Air Wing 2 Tests Out IFLOLS at JRB Fort Worth

In an effort to avoid the seasonal bird migrations at its home station in Kingsville, Texas, Training Air Wing 2 (TW-2) established a detachment training site at Naval Air Station (NAS) Joint Reserve Base (JRB) Fort Worth, Texas, Sept. 5-21. Fort Worth also offered the opportunity for the wing to use the base’s newly acquired Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (IFLOLS).

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BF-18 Flt 575, USMC Test pilot, Maj Paul Gucwa from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23) flies an F-35B aboard HMS Prince of Wales in support of the final First of Class sea trials for F-35B test (DT-3) on 11 October 2023.

The U.K. Queen Elizabeth-class (QEC) aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09)’s participation in WESTLANT 23 encompasses a range of U.K. and U.S. naval aircraft trials in the Western Atlantic throughout the autumn of 2023.The HMS Prince of Wales continues to push the boundaries of naval aviation capabilities and operations from QEC aircraft carriers, including increasing the range and lethality of F-35 operations. The U.K. is the only Tier I partner in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program. U.K. and U.S. interactions during this deployment are characterized by cooperation and reinforce international relationships, as well as enhance interoperability between the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy.

The F-35 Joint Program Office is the U.S. Department of Defense's focal point for the 5th-generation strike aircraft for the Navy, Air Force, Marines, and our allies. The F-35 is the premier multi-mission, 5th-generation weapon system. Its ability to collect, analyze and share data is a force multiplier that enhances all assets in the battle space: with stealth technology, advanced sensors, weapons capacity, and range. The F-35 has been operational since July 2015 and is the most lethal, survivable, and interoperable fighter aircraft ever built.

F-35 Test Team, HMS Prince of Wales Ship’s Company Working Closely to Achieve DT-3 Goals

The autumn mix of red, brown, yellow and green reflective and life preserver vests are muted under still dim hangar lights as two separate teams unstrap and unchain the Wildcat HMA Mk2 maritime attack helicopter, with its next-generation versatility, and the F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft, with its fifth generation capabilities, before moving the aircraft to the aft lift.

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Twisting Mettle: Joint Simulation Environment Gives F-35 Pilots A Threat They Can Learn From

A new training simulator exclusive to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) is stressing out F-35 Lightning II pilots in a good way.
The Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) has been operational at NAWCAD, located at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, for nearly two years. The simulator, which was installed inside an existing NAWCAD building, has drawn so much attention due to its ability to display near-peer fifth-generation threats in a virtual environment that training at the facility has been added to the syllabus for top tier pilots who train at the Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Course—better known as TOPGUN.

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Sharing the Skies: Naval Aviation Training Mitigates Risk of Bird Strikes

Naval Aviation is built on a physically and mentally rigorous syllabus that requires students and instructors to overcome many challenges. Student Naval Aviators (SNAs) are sometimes required to make split-second decisions, respond to simulated emergencies and occasionally respond to actual inflight emergencies. Some naval air stations that support SNA training are located in major migratory corridors where hundreds of migrating bird species create an additional challenge to safe flight. To address this challenge, in June 2010, Commander, Naval Installations Command, established the Bird/Animal Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) program.

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Ergonomics Enables Longer Sorties, Improves Aircraft Habitability

E-2D Advanced Hawkeye pilot, copilot, and three naval flight officers (NFO) may soon be able to endure longer flights, across greater distances and in greater comfort due, in part, to a recently developed ergonomically-designed seating system initially funded by the Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

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