F-35s arrive in Madison at Truax Field

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Four F-35A Lightning IIs landed in Madison on Tuesday, the first time the fighter jets have touched down in the city. Three are staying as the start of a new, high-tech fleet at the Truax Field, Air National Guard base, joining the 115th Fighter Wing.

“Fighter training has been the number one mission here for 75 years, so this is just the next step in having a current and capable aircraft for what today’s threats are,” said Col. Bart Van Roo.

The colonel says it will take roughly a year to gather all 20 jets at the base, time for the ground crews to train in on the aircraft as they prep for the full training regiment with the new birds. Three years of training is required for a pilot to fly an F-35.

“This is the most advanced fighter system that the air force has ever fielded, and Wisconsin is only the second national guard in the nation to be entrusted with this mission,” said Maj. General Paul Knapp.

Knapp says from ground crews to pilots, introducing the F-35s to replace the F-16s brings them all to the cutting edge of the latest technology. It is a leap forward into the present that pilot Lt. Col. Mike Koob says is a significant difference in the cockpit.

“I think of my first car, a 1988 Bonneville; it was the same vintage of our F-16s here,” said Koob. “{They} were 86′ to 88′, and now to be in a brand new F-35, it’s quite a difference. Now those aircraft were well maintained and prepared for the fight, but you can imagine the technological differences between something made in the 80′s and something made today.”

The Waunakee native says it was a special day to bring the $100 million jet to a base in Wisconsin. Knapp adds it is just the second Air National Guard base in the country to hold the F-35s, a mission over 10 years in the making.

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