The Air Force’s F-35A Joint Strike Fighter training jets that have been sitting on the tarmac at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., — home of the F-35 schoolhouse — have finally been cleared to fly.

Now, this doesn’t mean that student pilots will be strapping on the A-model jets later in the week. The Eglin jets face months of test flights to make sure that the small fleet can actually perform the training mission before any student pilots can get behind the controls. Click here to read a post I wrote last week over at DoDBuzz on this topic.

The pic above shows Eglins first F-35A arriving at the base from the JSF factory in Texas last summer. The planes have been sitting on the ground since arrival while the waited for their Military Flight Release (the green light to begin flight ops).

Here’s the Air Force’s press release announcing that the jets have been cleared for flight: