First F-35B shipboard deployment to begin as US warship arrives in Japan

[GhostZ06]

MELBOURNE, Australia — The U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship Wasp has arrived at its new home port in Japan, setting the stage for the first time the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning IIfighter jet will go to sea on an operational cruise later this year.

The Jan. 14 arrival of the ship at the 7th Fleet base at Sasebo marks the end of a 28,400-mile journey from Norfolk, Virginia, that began in August and included nearly two months of humanitarian relief efforts following two hurricanes in the Caribbean, during which aircraft onboard the Wasp moved a total of 1,129 passengers along with 26,720 pounds of equipment and more than 1.7 million pounds of various logistical support items, including 328,100 pounds of food and water.

“The arrival of USS Wasp represents an increase in military capability and a commitment to our partners and allies for security and stability in the region,” said Capt. Colby Howard, Wasp commanding officer. “Paired with the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, we remain ready to execute the full range of military operations from crisis response to disaster relief.”



The Wasp will replace the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard as the flagship of Task Force 76, which includes all of the 7th Fleet amphibious forces and is the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed expeditionary strike group. Three smaller Sasebo-based amphibious assault ships make up the remainder of the forward-deployed naval forces’ amphibious component.

The short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing F-35Bs replace rotational detachments of stateside AV-8B Harrier II jets to Okinawa under the Marines’ Unit Deployment Program, or UDP. The last Harrier UDP detachment ended in August 2017, flying back to the U.S. from Australia following the exercise Talisman Saber.

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2...ment-to-begin-as-us-warship-arrives-in-japan/





and they are now in service

 

[GhostZ06]

As a 2nd post and read...

China’s new Shenyang J-16 multirole fighter jet has been entering service in increasing numbers with little fanfare, with the lion’s share of attention focused on the stealthy Chengdu J-20 fighter’s development and introduction.

Images released by the Chinese military of a recent parade and exercise at Cangzhou in China’s northeastern Hebei province in early January show that at least two other People’s Liberation Army Air Force, or PLAAF, air brigades have converted or are in the process of converting to the J-16, bringing the total to three such units known to have the type into service.

This includes the 172nd and 176th brigades of the PLAAF’s Flight Test and Training Center, which is “assigned the task of developing flight techniques, combat tactics and training program for new aircraft and equipment,” according to Andreas Rupprecht, who has authored a number of books on Chinese military aviation.



The serial number on the aircraft at the recent exercise indicates that the third unit operating the J-16 is the 98th Brigade based at Chongqing in China’s southwest. There have also been reports from China that the 7th Brigade at Wuhu, Anhui province, is operating the J-16, although Defense News has been unable to confirm this.
A small number of J-16s entered service with the Flight Test and Training Center’s 176th Brigade in 2015 for the PLAAF equivalent of operational testing and evaluation; however multiple sources have said the wider introduction of the type into PLAAF service was reportedly delayed due to the need to refine the design of its active electronically scanned array radar developed by China’s No. 607 Institute.



The Shenyang J-16 is an indigenously developed Chinese offshoot of the Russian Su-30 Flanker-C multirole fighter, which is also operated by the PLAAF and China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy. Unlike the Shenyang J-11B/BS, which is a dedicated air combat aircraft based on the earlier Sukhoi Su-27, the J-16 is configured for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions with its multimode AESA radar.

basically its a F-18 growler .


https://www.defensenews.com/air/201...6-jets-stepping-up-introduction-into-service/