Monday afternoon, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis made a vague announcement that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will fly its first operations sometime soon. Davis stated that he and Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford are confident that the fighter jet has reached the initial operational capability (IOC) milestone. Full-fledged operations are soon to follow.

“I would say soon, but…I’m not going to rush Gen. Dunford,” Davis said. “Bottom line, he and I talked and he’s a busy guy and he’s working his way through that right now. But I’ll tell you, we met all of our IOC criteria.”

The general also addressed criticisms that the F-35 cannot outperform its predecessor, the F-16D Block 40, in a dogfight. In response to these allegations, the Pentagon explained that the F-35 was truly a long range aircraft. According to Davis, the F-35 is equipped for both short and long range combat.

“I am very confident that I could send them pretty much to pretty much anyplace in the world to employ this weapon systems in a close air support environment,” Davis said.

The Pentagon is set to purchase 2,457 F-35s for a whopping $391 billion. About 420 of those jets will be used by the Marine Corps.