The US Marine Corps has sent its F-35B jet to Japan for first overseas deployment

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f-35b japan deployment

Department of Defense

An F-35B from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, refuels in flight while transiting the Pacific from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Jan. 9, 2017, with its final destination of Iwakuni, Japan.

On January 9, 2017, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121), an F-35B squadron with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, departed MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) Yuma, Arizona, for relocation to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, in what is the first deployment of the US Joint Strike Fighter outside of the continental US.

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Formerly a 3rd MAW F/A-18 Hornet squadron, the VMFA-121 "Green Knights" was re-designated as the Corps' first operational F-35 squadron on November 20, 2012.

About three years later, on July 31, 2015, IOC (Initial Operational Capability) was declared and in December 2015, the Squadron flew its F-35Bs in support of Exercise Steel Knight, "a combined-arms live-fire exercise which integrates capabilities of air and ground combat elements to complete a wide range of military operations in an austere environment to prepare the 1st Marine Division for deployment as the ground combat element of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force."

The F-35B performed exceedingly well during the exercise, according to the USMC.

In October 2016, a contingent of 12 F-35Bs took part in Developmental Test III aboard USS Amerca followed by the Lightning Carrier "Proof of Concept" demonstration on the carrier on November 19, 2016.

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During the POC, the aircraft proved it can operate at-sea, employing a wide array of weapons loadouts with the newest software variant. The F-35 operated well enough that some of the most experienced test pilots voiced their satisfaction for the way the aircraft is performing: "the platform is performing exceptionally," they said.

The first two F-35B deployments aboard US Navy amphibious carriers will take place in 2018.

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