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Hill Air Force Base • F-35 stealth fighters from the northern Utah base arrived in the United Kingdom over the weekend, marking the new warplane's inaugural European training mission.

The deployment of an unspecified number of F-35A Lightning IIs and staff from Utah is part of an effort to reassure European allies in the face of potential Russian aggression.

The jets arrived Saturday at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in England and were scheduled to spend several weeks training with other U.S. and NATO military aircraft.

After Lakenheath, the F-35s will continue on to several other unspecified NATO bases. Air Force officials said the planes were being deployed as part of the Pentagon's European Reassurance Initiative, started in 2014 to show support for U.S. allies after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

"It is good for our pilots to train in the European theater," said Col. Dave Smith, 419th Fighter Wing commander, at a Monday news conference at Hill Air Force Base. "The airspace is very similar, but it's a strange airfield. It's international flying rules. It's getting used to working with international controllers, the language barrier."

Officials said an overseas training deployment of the F-35 has been part of the Air Force's plan since the plane was declared ready for combat last year. The deployment includes airmen and staff from Utah's 388th Fighter Wing, as well the reserve 419th Fighter Wing.

While Lakenheath is the first foreign deployment for the Air Force F-35A version of the plane, the Marines' F-35B iteration was deployed to Japan and other Pacific countries for a training exercise earlier this year.

The U.K. and several other countries are scheduled to begin integrating the F-35s into their fleets soon.

"They need to understand how we train on a regular basis — to build the tactics and techniques and principles of flight," Smith said.

The Air Force also wants to demonstrate how the F-35 can be integrated with older "fourth-generation" aircraft, such as the F-15 and F-16. Smith said Air Force officials see the F-35 as a "quarterback on the battlefield."

"This aircraft can collect all kinds of information, give it to the pilot, and we can share that information with our partners," he said.

The soaring price of the aircraft has generated critics, however, including President Donald Trump, who said last year that the F-35 program was "out of control." The price tag for 2,457 planes that have been delivered or are planned to be is nearly $400 billion, about twice the initial estimate.

Hill Air Force Base is home to 20 F-35s, and will have 78 once the program is fully operational at the base in 2019, Smith said.

Twitter: @lramseth