First German F-35 lands at Ebbing as Fort Smith training center prepares for Luftwaffe pilots

FORT SMITH, Ark. — The first F-35 Lightning II built for the German Air Force touched down at Ebbing Air National Guard Base on Monday, Oct. 5, rolling through a water-cannon salute and making Germany the third allied nation with jets on the ramp at the U.S. Air Force’s foreign pilot training center in Fort Smith.

The jet, tail number 35+01 with the Luftwaffe’s Iron Cross on its fuselage, flew in from Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant, a trip of less than an hour. U.S. Air Force Maj. Eric “Doom” Fesmire, an instructor pilot with the 57th Fighter Squadron, was at the controls. The fighter roared over the Fort Smith Regional Airport runway around 12:30 p.m. before circling back to land, Talk Business & Politics reported.

After the engine shut down, Fesmire and German Air Force Lt. Col. Stefan Koellner, Germany’s country liaison officer at Ebbing, exchanged a German flag and a patch on the flight line, according to photos released by the 188th Wing. Officers from Poland and Finland, whose pilots are already training at the base, joined local officials and a crowd of onlookers for the arrival.

Six German instructor pilots will be stationed at Ebbing. The first German students, who are completing academics and simulator work at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, are expected in Fort Smith in December. At least 70 German pilots are expected to train at the base over the next five years, and the first eight German F-35s are due at Ebbing by April 2027, according to Talk Business.

Col. Michael Maltzahn, the military attaché at the German Embassy in Washington, attended the arrival and said the training could run longer than five years. He said flying alongside Polish and Finnish pilots at the same base lets the allies share tactics and a common air combat vocabulary. “We speak the same language. We use the same tactics,” he told KATV.

Koellner moved to Fort Smith with his wife and two children in April to prepare for the German contingent. He called Ebbing a “wise choice” for the mission and praised the community’s welcome. “Living here is great,” he told KATV.

Germany’s $8 billion order

Germany’s parliament approved the purchase of 35 F-35As in December 2022 at a cost of about 8.3 billion euros, roughly $8.4 billion, to replace part of the Luftwaffe’s aging Tornado fleet. A German military attaché told Talk Business the country is considering buying more.

The jet that landed Monday made its first flight at Fort Worth on Sept. 8 and was formally rolled out Sept. 18, according to the German aviation magazine Flug Revue. The German pilots at Ebbing will fall under the 1st German Air Force Training Squadron, part of the German Air Force Tactical Training Command USA, which has run Luftwaffe flight training in the United States for decades. Aircraft meant for operations from Germany will go to Büchel Air Base once that base is ready to receive them.

Ebbing’s growing mission

The Air Force selected Ebbing in March 2023 as its Foreign Military Sales pilot training center for allied nations buying the F-35, a list that now includes Singapore, Poland, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Greece and Romania. The active-duty 85th Fighter Group, a detachment of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin, leads the training alongside the 57th Fighter Squadron and works with the Arkansas Air National Guard’s 188th Wing, which calls Ebbing home.

Poland was the first nation to train at Ebbing, and Finland’s first F-35 arrived Jan. 20. Each country now has eight jets at the base, so the German arrival brings the F-35 count at Ebbing to 17. Officials with the 85th Fighter Group have said Singapore is expected to be the next nation to arrive, in 2027.

Construction continues across the installation. The Air Force signed a decision in June to grow the fleet at Ebbing to 36 F-35s plus 12 F-16s, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground in May on a $74 million academic training center with four flight simulators. The Air Force estimates the full buildout at $807 million, with more than $600 million in federal funds appropriated since 2021. Pilots flying from Ebbing train on Razorback Range at Fort Chaffee, about 15 nautical miles southeast of the airport.