Hagel at Eglin: F-35 is the future

With F-35s still grounded across the country, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel visited the F-35 training wing here on Thursday to reinforce the Pentagon’s commitment to developing the military’s newest fighter jet.

“This aircraft is the future of fighter aircraft for all our services,” Hagel said to about 200 service members gathered in an F-35 hangar. “The F-35 is as big a project as we have and we’ve got a lot riding on it.”

Though the F-35 is still in development, the Air Force, Marines and Navy — which all have their own versions of the aircraft — have already started training at a few bases across the country, including Eglin Air Force Base.

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