The delays the Pentagon now has put into play for the early production of the F-35 strike fighter variants will not slow the standup of the joint schoolhouse at Eglin AFB, Fla., according to testimony by Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, at last week’s House Appropriations panel hearing on USAF’s 2011 military construction budget request. Schwartz told lawmakers, “We are synchronized properly for the early delivery of training aircraft.” He explained that each service would supply a portion of the Eglin-based training fleet—which “includes a 24-aircraft Air Force unit, a 15-aircraft Navy unit, and a 20-aircraft Marine Corps unit.”
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…