A ceremony was held at NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, on December 13, 2013, to mark the production of the 100th Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. A total of 42 F-35As for the US Air Force, 39 F-35Bs for the US Marine Corps/Navy, 14 F-35Cs for the US Navy, three F-35Bs for the United Kingdom and two F-35As for the Netherlands had been built by the time of the event. In all 36 were delivered in 2013, of which seven were handed over in the final two weeks of December. The milestone aircraft, F-35A 11-5030 (b/n AF-41), will be assigned to the 61st Fighter Squadron 'Top Dogs' at Luke AFB, Arizona, part of the 56th Fighter Wing (FW). The squadron was reactivated on October 27, 2013, to conduct instructor pilot training on the aircraft. F-35A 11 -5030 is the first of 144 due to be delivered to Luke AFB for use by six squadrons assigned to the 56th FW. On December 3 the US Air Force announced that Hill AFB, Utah, would be the first operational base for the Lightning II, taking 72 F-35As from 2015. The initial Air National Guard F-35A base will be Bennington in Vermont, where the first of 18 will arrive in 2020. Meanwhile, the first F-35A sent to the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill AFB for structural modifications to strengthen the aircraft and extend its service life is due to return to service on February 7. The work took 131 days to complete.
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