A briefing by Japan’s Chugoku-Shikoku Defense Bureau on Mar. 31 revealed that the U.S. Marine Corps’ VMFA-242 will start operating the F-35B at MCAS Iwakuni from this month.
An F-35B Lightning II with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, lands at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Jan. 18, 2017. VMFA-121 conducted a permanent change of station to MCAS Iwakuni, from MCAS Yuma, Ariz., and now belongs to Marine Aircraft Group 12, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force. The F-35B Lightning II is a fifth-generation fighter, which is the world’s first operational supersonic short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft. The F-35B brings strategic agility, operational flexibility and tactical supremacy to III MEF with a mission radius greater than that of the F/A-18 Hornet and AV-8B Harrier II in support of the U.S. – Japan alliance. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Joseph Abrego)
The unit had been redesignated in October last year. It will be equipped with 16 F-35Bs but so far, not all of its aircraft have arrived in Japan.
