F-35 Flight Test Update 7
10 March 2012
Through 3 March 2012, the F-35 test program had completed 161 flights totaling more than 250 flight hours and had accrued more than 1,100 test points.
F-35 Flight Test Update 6
1 November 2011
BF-2’s flight to the USS Wasp brought the 2011 flight total to more than 700. Flight hours exceed 1,100. Vertical landings surpassed 180.
F-35 Flight Test Update 5
14 July 2011
Since early March 2011, the program has completed more than 200 additional flights and, as of late June, had surpassed 1,400 flight hours and 1,000 total flights.
Through The Canopy Glass
22 June 2011
The Advanced Canopy Mapper is a required stop for every canopy before it is installed on an F-35 Lightning II.
F-35 Flight Test Update 4
22 March 2011
As of mid-March, the five F-35Bs flying at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, have completed a total of 316 flights and seventy-three vertical landings.
F-35 Flight Test Update 3
22 November 2010
Fifteen total F-35 pilots have flown more than 700 hours on more than 490 flights (as of 15 November 2010) in the current System Development and Demonstration phase of the program.
F-35 Anechoic Chamber Testing
25 October 2010
A variety of Lockheed Martin aircraft, from two versions of the F-111 to many versions of the F-16, have been tested in this electromagnetically clean environment. The latest airframe to be tested in the chamber is an F-35A.
F-35 Flight Test Update 2
14 September 2010
Twelve company and military pilots are currently qualified to fly the F-35. Fourteen total F-35 pilots have flown more than 500 hours on more than 360 flights as of 26 August 2010 in the System Development and Demonstration phase of the program.
CATBird
23 August 2010
The southernmost run station on the Lockheed Martin side of the runway at NAS JRB Fort Worth contains an aircraft that is one part airliner and one part advanced fighter. This curious combination is a Boeing 737-300 transformed into a flying laboratory.
F-35 Flight Test Update 1
18 March 2010
Nine pilots have flown more than 200 hours and 160 flights as of 23 March in the current System Development and Demonstration phase of the F-35 program.
