The close encounter comes after a series of Russian incursions into the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone just beyond U.S. sovereign airspace.
The Pentagon is withholding $5 million per jet from its payments to Lockheed Martin until the new F-35s can fly in combat.
The opening of the North Carolina airfield follows the service’s June recertification of an airfield on the Pacific island of Peleliu.
Marine fighter pilots now have a missile that can strike targets up to 230 miles away, keeping aviators out of the range of many air defense systems.
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