JSF fan, I am reasonably familiar with how the US Navy and US Air Force fill the billets in Fleet Introduction squadrons.
You first take pilots who fly something else, run them through a conversion course (which typically involves a lot of OEM experts, folks from the Test Center, folks who were involved in RDT & E, and so on) and from that create a training cadre for your first classes to go through and begin to populate / man / standup your line squadrons.
With most new aircraft, the FIT team itself (and what the USAF call it, I forget their term) is still in a learning mode after a number of classes have gone through.
I may just be a nitpicking old fart, but the term "expert" looks to me to be a bit of hyperbole.
How many Fleet Introduction Teams have you been on, JSF fan?
