F-35 Lightning II 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 Lightning II 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 Lightning II 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 Lightning II 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.
Lightning Sight
1 August 2009
"We have eliminated the need for a head-up display. Instead, the helmet connects the pilot to the airplane," says Jon Beesley, F-35 chief test pilot.
Going Vertical
1 July 2009
The F-35 hover pit may resemble an olympic-size swimming pool, but this specially instrumented test structure at the F-35 factory in Fort Worth, Texas, holds no water and is covered with interlocking metal grates that span its surface.
F-35 Flight Test Perspectives
15 September 2008
Eighteen test vehicles, more than 5,000 sorties, and 10,000 flight test hours are just a few ways to sum up the testing planned for the System Development and Demonstration, or SDD, phase of the F-35 program.
X to F: F-35 Lightning II And Its X-35 Predecessors
15 May 2008
A side-by-side comparison of the X-35 Joint Strike Fighter prototype with the F-35 Lightning II production aircraft underscores the huge strides the JSF program has made transitioning from demonstration to development.
