Four US Navy F-35Cs Lightning II Multirole Fighters Arrived in California for Permanent Basing

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A new chapter in Navy history began today when four F-35Cs arrived at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, joining the VFA-125 Rough Raiders and reestablishing them as a training squadron. Nearly 400 sailors, families and local civic leaders witnessed the arrival and the accompanying ceremony marking the occasion. NAS Lemoore is the first west coast naval installation to have F-35Cs permanently assigned and is the Navy’s only west coast Master Jet Base. By the end of 2017, the base will have 10 F-35Cs, building to more than 100 jets in the early 2020s.

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Naval Aviation News - USA

Four US Navy F-35Cs Lightning II Multirole Fighters Arrived in California for Permanent Basing

A new chapter in Navy history began today when four F-35Cs arrived at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, joining the VFA-125 Rough Raiders and reestablishing them as a training squadron. Nearly 400 sailors, families and local civic leaders witnessed the arrival and the accompanying ceremony marking the occasion. NAS Lemoore is the first west coast naval installation to have F-35Cs permanently assigned and is the Navy’s only west coast Master Jet Base. By the end of 2017, the base will have 10 F-35Cs, building to more than 100 jets in the early 2020s.

Four F-35Cs performed a flyby as they arrive at NAS Lemoore, marking their historic arrival to join VFA-125. US Navy photo.

The F-35C, the US Navy carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, conducted its first shipboard test flights in November 2014 aboard USS Nimitz and follow-on developmental testing aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in October 2015. Engineered for a carrier, its 51-foot wingspan is larger than the Air Force's F-35A and Marine Corps' F-35B short take-off-and-landing variants.