The F-35 Integrated Training Center at the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida, recorded its 2,000th Lightning II sortie on 13 August 2013. Marine Maj. Adam Levine, an instructor pilot with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501) was at the controls of an F-35B during the milestone sortie. Eglin is expected to have twenty-four F-35As in place by spring 2014. The Eglin fleet will grow to fifty-nine aircraft in the next few years with about 100 pilots and 2,100 maintainers graduating yearly. Also in early August, a small number of Eglin F-35 pilots were sent to Luke AFB in Tucson, Arizona, to become the F-35A initial cadre with the 61st Fighter Squadron.
