Netherlands air force maintainers have demonstrated the ability to load weapons aboard a Lockheed Martin F-35A of the US Air Force (USAF).

The activity occurred on 5 December at Germany’s Ramstein air base and underlined interoperability between F-35 operators, says the USAF.

The crew conducted a full certification-standard loading sequence with the F-35A, which is ordinarily based at RAF Lakenheath in the UK. The activity focused on procedures, equipment compatability, and communications between personnel from the two air forces.

The ability of crews to arm F-35s from other nations allows greater flexibility of operations from dispersed locations.

The effort was witnessed by leaders from several air forces, who were attending an air chiefs conference at Ramstein. The weapons loading followed a year of bilateral training exchanges between USAF and Netherlands maintainers.

Previous cross-servicing events have focused on the crews safeley refuelling aircraft from other nations. 

“It’s very important that for the upcoming sizes of the F-35 fleet in Europe, that all the individual nations can be very flexible and work together,” says European Air Group Director Brigadier General Patrick Goossens of the Belgian air force.

“As more European nations adopt fifth-generation platforms it is very important that even though we operate the same systems and our people go through the same training, that we do on a day-to-day basis, we can continue to align each other’s procedures.”

In September, think tank Rand called on the USAF to expand cross servicing arrangements with European allies in support of the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) strategy, which envisions aircraft operating from unpredictable, diverse locations.

Cirium, an aviation analytics company, indicates that seven European air forces have a total inventory of 215 F-35s, with 21 aircraft on order. In addition, European air forces have letters of intent that could see them obtain over 400 more.