F-35B Shipboard Testing: Part 2
18 October 2013
More than 200 members of the F-35 Integrated Test Force from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, deployed to the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1) in August 2013 for the second phase of developmental test sea trials, called DT-II, for the short takeoff/vertical landing variant of the Lightning II, the F-35B.
F-35 Flight Test Update 11
27 August 2013
The F-35 Flight Test Update in the Volume 28, Number 1 issue of Code One concluded with the first aerial release of an AIM-120 AMRAAM from an F-35B on 26 March 2013. This eleventh installment in the series of flight test updates on the F-35 program covers the AIM-120 launch as well as other achievements of the F-35 Integrated Test Force located at Edwards AFB, California, and at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.
Interview: USMC Col. Art Tomassetti
22 August 2013
Throughout all of his follow-on assignments since being a test pilot on the X-35, Tomassetti continued to be part of test events, working groups, and design reviews for the F-35.
F-35 Flight Testing At Edwards
13 May 2013
For most of 2012, the ITF operated six F-35As assigned to Edwards—three for flight sciences testing and three for mission systems testing. By the end of 2013, the ITF will be operating three additional F-35s—two F-35Bs and one F-35C, for a total of nine F-35s.
F-35 Flight Test Update 10
11 May 2013
The F-35 Flight Test Update in the Volume 27, Number 3 issue of Code One concluded with the first aerial release of an AIM-120 AMRAAM on 19 October 2012. This tenth installment in the series of flight test updates on the F-35 program covers numerous other weapon releases as well as other achievements of the F-35 Integrated Test Force located at Edwards AFB, California, and at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.
F-35 Flight Test Update 9
30 October 2012
Since June 2012, the F-35 Integrated Test Force set new records of 135 System Development and Demonstration, or SDD, flights for 239 SDD flight hours and more than 1,100 test points in August 2012. With training pilot checkouts at Eglin AFB, Florida, and test pilot qualifications at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, fifty-five pilots have flown the F-35 Lightning II as of October 2012.
F-35 Flight Testing At Pax
15 October 2012
The F-35 Integrated Test Force, or ITF, at Pax, one of multiple test sites for the F-35 program, is responsible for flight testing the seagoing variants of the F-35, which include the short takeoff/vertical landing F-35B variant and the F-35C carrier variant.
F-35 Flight Test Update 8
7 August 2012
Through the end of June 2012, the System Development and Demonstration, or SDD, test pilots set new records for most flights in a month – 123 flights in March 2012 – and most test points in a month – 1,118 in June 2012. The F-35 test program had conducted 595 test flights in 2012 and accrued 4,830 test points.
F-35 Flight Test Update 7
8 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-35B test pilots have executed twenty-three vertical landings so far this year. With several more checkout flights completed, thirty-three pilots have now flown the F-35. Twenty-six pilots are flying currently.
F-35 Flight Test Update 6
2 November 2011
BF-2’s flight to the ship brought the 2011 flight total to more than 700, flight hours to more than 1,100, and the vertical landing count beyond 180. By the end of September, F-35B pilots had flown more than 300 short takeoffs in 2011 alone.
