F-35 Flight Test Update 5
7 July 2011
Since March 2011, the F-35 program has completed more than 200 additional flights and, as of late June 2011, had surpassed 1,400 flight hours and 1,000 total flights.
F-35 Flight Test Update 4
22 March 2011
As of mid-March 2011, 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
10 November 2010
The previous installment of the F-35 Flight Test Update ended with F-35A AF-1 completing its fiftieth flight on 27 August 2010. Since then, the aircraft has been flown an additional thirty flights and a total of more than 140 flight hours.
Diverterless Supersonic Inlet
6 November 2010
At high aircraft speeds through supersonic, the bump in the inlet works with the forward-swept inlet cowl to redirect unwanted boundary layer airflow away from the inlet, essentially doing the job of heavier, more complex, and more costly diverters used by current fighters. The flight test program consisted of twelve flights flown in nine days in December 1996.
F-35 Flight Test Update 2
15 September 2010
The previous installment of the F-35 Flight Test Update ended with the first vertical landing of an F-35B. Since then, US Marine Corps and Lockheed Martin pilots flying the short takeoff/vertical landing version of the F-35 have gone on to complete an additional nine vertical landings. More than sixty flights have been completed in BF-1, the first F-35B. The F-35B fleet has accumulated more than 200 hours of flight time in more than 160 flights. This gallery covers F-35 flight test milestones from 1 April to 27 August 2010.
F-35 Program Updates
1 September 2010
F-35 program updates created by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company.
F-35 CATBird
2 August 2010
F-35 Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, also known as CATBird, is a flying laboratory used primarily to test and develop mission system avionics for the F-35 Lightning II.
Conformal Air Refuel Tank System
9 June 2010
Images from drogue-probe style air refueling system testing on F-16.
F-35 Flight Test Update 1
20 April 2010
As of 23 March 2010, nine pilots have flown more than 200 hours and 160 flights in the System Development and Demonstration phase of the F-35 program. Gallery covers F-35 flight test milestones from 14 November 2009 to 18 March 2010.
F-35 Lightning II Videos
20 April 2010
The F-35 Lightning II integrates advanced very low observable stealth into a supersonic, highly agile 5th generation fighter that provides the pilot with unprecedented situational awareness and unmatched lethality and survivability. With its host of next-generation technologies and unprecedented capabilities, the F-35 is the world's most advanced multirole fighter.
