The U.K. Royal Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps have embarked on a historic undertaking for the F-35B. The "Wake Island Avengers" (VMFA-211) landed aboard the U.K. Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth May 2 and are now part of the largest F-35B deployment to date. The Marines will pair with eight jets from the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron, “The Dambusters," on a 28-week deployment spanning 26,000 nautical miles. The carrier strike group will conduct engagements with Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Japan and India as part of the U.K.’s tilt towards the Indo-Pacific region. On the way to Indo-Pacific, the U.K. F-35Bs are also set to support counter-Daesh operations in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Shader. (Read more...)