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The F-35A was flown supersonically for the first time on a flight out of Fort Worth, Texas, on 13 November. The aircraft accelerated to Mach 1.05, or about 680 miles per hour, at 30,000 feet. The test was accomplished with a full internal load of inert weapons on the one-hour flight. The mock-up weapons duplicate the dimensions and weight of a typical F-35 strike mission load-out in full stealth configuration: two inert 2,000-pound GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions and two AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or about 5,400 pounds of payload. Chief F-35 test pilot Jon Beesley made the milestone flight, the sixty-ninth sortie of the aircraft. Roughly eight minutes of the flight were flown at supersonic speeds.
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