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56th Fighter Wing, home of the Lightning

Latest update: April 2020

Luke Air Force Base is located near the city of Glendale which is roughly 15 miles Phoenix, Arizona. 56th Fighter Wing is the tenant unit and reports to 19th Air Force of Air Education & Training Command (AETC). Currently both the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-35A Lightning II are assigned to its fighter squadrons. The base is in the process of transitioning from F-16 to F-35 operations and will become the largest Lightning II base after it served many years as the largest F-16 base. To accommodate all current and future F-35A squadrons the F-16 squadrons will be relocated. Three are operational at Holloman AFB, Nevada. Both 309th FS and 310th FS still reside at Luke AFB as well as training of Taiwanese Air Force pilots through the 21st FS and Singapore's Air Force pilots within the 425th FS. Air Force Reserve Command 69th FS also conducts training with the Fighting Falcon at the base. Four F-35A Lightning II squadrons are training USAF and international pilots. Each fighter squadron has one or two Lightning II international partners embedded. Another two squadrons will be activated. Squadrons have 24 USAF aircraft assigned augmented by the number of aircraft based by the partner nations. Its fifth squadron was planned to have been activated in 2019 and while the sixth squadron will be activated in 2022. Both Belgium and Denmark will join the 56th Fighter Wing to train their pilots and will send their first delivered aircraft manufactured at Fort Worth, Texas to the Arizona base. The international partners are flying alongside their USAF colleagues and the aircraft are assigned from a pool with the instructors and student pilots flying each other's aircraft. 56th Fighter Wing also has one geologically separated F-15 Eagle training squadron assigned. 550th FS was activated as an associate unit to 173rd FW stationed at Klamath Falls, Oregon. Royal Australian Air Force completed its training in December 2019 after it achieved all its training milestones. Five aircraft had been assigned to 62nd FS. These will be flown to Australia. Lockheed Martin will continue to deliver F-35A's to the RAAF and these will be flown from Fort Worth, Texas to Luke AFB. Until the last aircraft are received in 2023 the RAAF will ferry these aircraft to Australia from time to time. The Japanese Air Self Defence Force had its first four F-35A's assigned to a detachment within the 944th Fighter Wing. It flew these aircraft to Japan where it will be training new pilots themselves. Training of Turkish Air Force pilots was ended after the country purchased the Russian S-400 air defence system. Four aircraft had been delivered and were operational within the 63rd FS. Once all fighter squadrons are operational at Luke AFB more then 150 Lightnings will be based. On April 17, 2020 the 56th Fighter Wing PAO reported that Luke AFB was home to 77 F-16's and 98 F-35's.

56th Fighter Wing at January 1, 2020

Wing Group Squadron Nickname Aircraft No. a/c Base F-35 partner Comment                   56th FW 54th FG 8th FS The Black Sheep F-16C/D 24 Holloman AFB, NM     56th FW 54th FG 311th FS Sidewinders F-16C/D 24 Holloman AFB, NM     56th FW 54th FG 314th FS Warhawks F-16C/D 24 Holloman AFB, NM                       56th FW 56th OG 21st FS Gamblers F-16A/B 12 Luke AFB, AZ   Taiwan AF 56th FW 56th OG 61st FS Top Dogs F-35A 24 Luke AFB, AZ             F-35A 5 Luke AFB, AZ Australia   56th FW 56th OG 62nd FS Spikes F-35A 24 Luke AFB, AZ           13° Gruppo F-35A 2 Luke AFB, AZ Italy 32° Stormo         F-35A 6 Luke AFB, AZ Norway   56th FW 56th OG 63rd FS Panthers F-35A 24 Luke AFB, AZ Turkey (suspended)   56th FW 56th OG 308th FS Emerald Knights F-35A 24 Luke AFB, AZ         NODF-35   F-35A 6 Luke AFB, AZ Netherlands   56th FW 56th OG 309th FS Wild Ducks F-16C/D 24 Luke AFB, AZ     56th FW 56th OG 310th FS Tophats F-16C/D 24 Luke AFB, AZ     56th FW 56th OG 425th FS Black Widows F-16C/D 12 Luke AFB, AZ   Singapore AF                   56th FW 56th OG 550th FS   F-15C/D 33 Klamath Falls IAP, OR     944th FW 944th OG 69th FS Werewolves F-16C/D 24 Luke AFB, AZ             F-35A

56th Fighter Wing "wing and operations group commanders"

56th FW	56th FW	56th OG

56th Fighter Wing "squadron commanders"

61st FS	308th FS	309th FS

944th Fighter Wing "wing and squadron commanders"

944th FW	944th FW	69th FS

F-35A squadrons

61st FS USAF	61st FS Royal Australian Air Force	62nd FS USAF
62nd FS Italian Air Force	62nd FS Royal Norwegian Air Force	63rd FS USAF
308th FS USAF	308th FS Royal Netherlands Air Force

F-16 squadrons

315st FS Taiwanese Air Force	69th FS USAF	309th FS USAF
310th FS USAF	425th FS Singapore Air Force

Special colors schemes

Singapore 425th FS	Singapore 425th FS
Taiwanese Air Force 21st FS	Taiwanese Air Force 21st FS

Royal Canadian Air Force

The Royal Canadian Air Force 3 Wing detached its two squadrons (425 and 433 tactical fighter squadrons) to Luke AFB. Both are equipped with the CF-188 Hornet and flew training missions with all resident F-16 and F-35A squadrons.

CF-188 assigned to 425 squadron.	CF-188 assigned to  433 squadron
CF-188B assigned to 425 squadron.	Special marked 433 squadron CF-188B.