Moves Like Lightning!

I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks of the movie Top Gun when they hear about “fighter jets.” So when we learned that the UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was coming to the United States to officially accept the UK’s first of the next-generation stealth combat aircraft, I had a hard time not walking around humming Highway to the Danger Zone.

But after spending a few days last week at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Texas last week, everything became quite real, by putting a face to the tens of thousands of jobs supported by Joint Strike Fighter program and giving everyone a chance to see this impressive technology in action.

After a day in Washington meeting with his US counterpart and giving a speech at a think tank here, Mr Hammond was off to Forth Worth, where in a ceremony with Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall and Lockheed Martin CEO Bob Stevens, he accepted the logbook (kind of like a metaphorical key) to the Lightning II, a Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The UK, as the only Tier One partner in the Joint Strike Fighter program, was the first international partner to receive a plane. As Mr Hammond said, “the magnificent aeroplane…symbolizes the depth and capability of the US-UK defence relationship.” Even its name reflects the relationship: it was named ‘Lightning II’ in honour of both the US Air Force’s Lockheed P-38 Lightning from World War II and the Royal Air Force’s English Electric Lightning of the Cold War.

As was explained to us by the UK test pilots at the ceremony, a critical strength of the Joint Strike Fighter program is the interoperability that it offers between allies. The (admittedly layman’s) explanation I was given of what “interoperability” actually means is that, among other aspects, pilots will be able to seamlessly share information and coordinate responses during missions through the jet’s systems. For two militaries who have fought side by side for almost 200 years, this seems like the next step in bringing our countries even closer together.

In addition to seeing the UK’s Lightning II take off, Mr Hammond also toured the plant where the F-35s are being assembled, which was probably my favourite part of the visit. It was amazing to see step by step the various parts come together, slowly seeing the plane emerge into reality as you continued down the assembly line.

The UK’s first Lightening II is now at Eglin Air Force Base for training and evaluation, and I’m back in Washington. And while it’s not quite Top Gun, this video with the UK test pilots certainly brings back the excitement of last week.