Royal Australian Air Force F-35A Lightning II jet arrived at Luke Air Force Base

Photo - USAF

The first Royal Australian Air Force F-35A Lightning II jet arrived at Luke Air Force Base Dec. 18. The jet's arrival marks the first international partner F-35 to arrive for training at Luke."Today, we take another tremendous step forward in our transition to the F-35 here at Luke," said Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, 56th Fighter Wing commander. "Australia is the first of 10 nations that will not only become part of the Luke community, but will share in calling the West Valley a home away from home."

Nine other nations will be training alongside the United States on the new airframe. Other partner-nations that will be joining the U.S. and Australia in the F-35A training program here will be Turkey, Italy, Norway, and the Netherlands, in addition to Foreign Military Sales countries Japan, Korea and Israel."Welcoming our first Australian F-35 is a special day for Luke and the community that has been so supportive of us," Pleus said."The Royal Australian Air Force is delighted to be the first foreign partner nation with F-35A aircraft arriving at Luke Air Force Base," Air Commodore Gary Martin, air attaché said. "This is an important milestone for Australia and we are looking forward to the commencement of our fifth-generation pilot training here at Luke in 2015."Luke will be the central training hub for international F-35A training. In the near future, international and U.S. students will be teamed together learning how to effectively employ the fifth-generation strike fighter.

"Luke's mission has been to train the world's greatest fighter pilots," Pleus said. "We will continue on that legacy as we train the world's best F-35A pilots."