SOUTHWEST ASIA — Two F-35As, deployed to the middle east from the active duty 388th and Reserve 419th Fighter Wings, conducted an air strike at Wadi Ashai, Iraq, in support of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve on April 30.

This strike marked the F-35A Lightning IIs first combat mission.

The F-35As conducted the airstrike using a Joint Direct Attack Munition to strike an entrenched Daesh tun-nel network and weapons cache deep in the Hamrin Mountains, a location able to threaten friendly forces. The mission demonstrated the multi-role capability of the F-35, which can take on the conventional roles of legacy aircraft, while at the same time bringing 5th generation technology to the entire coalition force.

“We have the ability to gather, fuse and pass so much information, that we make every friendly aircraft more survivable and lethal,” said Lt. Col. Yosef Morris, 4th Fighter Squadron commander and F-35A pilot. “That, combined with low-observable technology, allows us to really complement any combined force package and be ready to support AOR contingencies.”

The F-35As, recently deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, joined the Combined Forces Air Component team in the U.S. Central Command area of operations on April 15. In preparation for deployment, crews prepared and trained on the aircraft for the AFCENT mission.

“The F-35A has sensors everywhere, it has advanced radar, and it is gathering and fusing all this information from the battlespace in real time,” said Morris. “Now it has the ability to take that information and share it with other F-35s or even other fourth generation aircraft in the same package that can also see the integrated picture.”