F-35Bs on schedule to be deployed to Japan in January 2017

The Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley told lawmakers on Mar. 23 that the U.S. Marine Corps is on schedule to deploy the F-35B to MCAS Iwakuni in January 2017.

F-35B Lightning of VMFAT-501 takes off from Eglin AFB 2013
By U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Lt. Col. Kenneth Hoffman said in an email that swapping out the F/A-18 with the F-35 is being done in close coordination with the government of Japan.