F-35 Flight Test Update 10

3 December 2012: Marine Corps Maj. C.R. Clift was at the controls of F-35B BF-1 for its 200th vertical landing. The flight occurred at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

3 December 2012: Navy test pilot Lt. Cdr. Michael Burks completed the first airborne release of an inert GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb from an F-35B. Burks, flying BF-3, released the weapon over the Atlantic Test Ranges while traveling at Mach 0.8 at approximately 5,000-feet altitude. The flight originated from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

4 December 2012: Lockheed Martin test pilot David Nelson flew F-35A AF-4 for the first intentional departure from controlled flight as part of the high angle of attack testing being performed at the Air Force Test Center at Edwards AFB, California. The highest angle of attack observed during this test was seventy-three degrees.

5 December 2012: Marine Corps test pilot Maj. Richard Rusnok completed a series of night STOVL missions in F-35B BF-4 from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. The missions included the first night hover.

7 December 2012: Lockheed Martin test pilot David Nelson flew F-35A AF-4 for the first high AOA flight with external stores. The flight was also the 150th mission for AF-4. The stores included pylons on Stations 2, 3, 9, and 10 and AIM-9X missiles on Stations 1 and 11. The aircraft was also carrying a GBU-31 and two AIM-120s in its internal weapon bays.

7 December 2012: Marine Corps Maj. C. R. Clift piloted BF-1 for the 1,000th STOVL flight for the F-35 SDD program. The flight occurred at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

8 December 2012: Lockheed Martin pilot Ed Delehant flew the Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, or CATBird CATB, for the 300th flight of the aircraft. CATBird is used to test mission systems for the F-35.

11 December 2012: Marine Corps Maj. C. R. Clift flew BF-4 for the first time carrying live countermeasures. (First time for an F-35B.) The aircraft surpassed 200 total flight hours on the same flight.

11 December 2012: F-35C CF-5, the last F-35 produced under the SDD contract and the seventeenth aircraft delivered for the SDD fleet, is ferried from Fort Worth, Texas, to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, by Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Burks.

18 December 2012: US government test pilot Vince Catarina flew AF-1 at Mach 1.2 in a flying qualities mission that included 360-degree rolls with open weapon bay doors.

31 December 2012: The F-35 test fleet ended 2012 completing 1,167 flights and more than 9,300 test points—the highest annual total of flights and hours for the program.

18 January 2013: F-35C CF-1 and CF-2 take on fuel from a KC-130 tanker during a test flight on 18 January 2013 from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. The flight marked the first time two F-35Cs aerial refueled at the same time. Navy Lt. Chris Tabert flew CF-1 for the mission. Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin flew CF-2.