US Navy F/A-18E refuels RAF F-35Bs for the first time
8th October 2021
News
Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning IIs assigned to the Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) No 617 Squadron ‘The Dambusters’ have conducted buddy-buddy air-to-air refuelling operations with a US Navy-operated Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet for the first time.
US Navy FA-18E Super Hornet refuels RAF F-35B in Indo-Pacific 10-21 [US Navy] A US Navy-operated Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet refuels a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II from the RAF's No 617 Squadron 'The Dambusters' over the Indo-Pacific region. US Navy
The successful completion of this training mission was announced by the RAF on October 7. The sortie took place in the Indo-Pacific region, where eight No 617 Squadron F-35Bs are currently embarked aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) – the Royal Navy’s (RN’s) flagship aircraft carrier – as part of the Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) deployment.
The buddy-buddy refuelling operation was conducted while the Queen Elizabeth was participating in exercises alongside the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (JMSDF’s) JS Ise (DDH-182) helicopter carrier and the US Navy’s USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) aircraft carriers.
https://www.key.aero/index.php/article/us-navy-fa-18e-refuels-raf-f-35bs-first-time
