Luke Air Force Base (AFB) near Phoenix Arizona is home to over 150 F-16 "Fighting Falcon" training jets and is one of the major training bases in the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) in the USA and also is home to the largest fleet of F-16's in the world. The mild winters and generally all year round great weather provides Instructors and students more flying hours than most bases in the USAF.

The F-16 "Fighting Falcons" of the 56th FW will start to reduce over the coming years as the USAF plans to make Luke AFB, the Air Force's F-35A "Lightning II" pilot training centre. Plans are for over 144 F-35A's to based over the coming decade, with Luke becoming an International Training Center for the world's F-35A pilots.

The first USAF F-35A is due to arrive during March 2014 and take the USAF and the 56th FW into the 5th generation of jet fighters. The older F-16 jets will gradually be withdrawn from the Luke squadrons and moved on to Air National Guard (ANG) units around the United States.

Author / Photography Mark Forest