Fri, Feb 19, 2010
STOVL Aircraft Joins Flight Test Fleet
Piloted by Lockheed Martin F-35 Test Pilot Jeff Knowles, the
third F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL)
stealth fighter landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD,
Wednesday.
File Photo
"Today, the third of our five STOVL test jets joined the F-35
fleet at the Test Center as our flight test program initiates the
expansion of the F-35's flight-sciences envelope," said Tom
Burbage, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and general
manager of F-35 Program Integration. "Our focus remains on fielding
the F-35's tremendous capabilities to our warfighters,
recapitalizing our nation's aging fighter fleet, and meeting our
commitments to the F-35 partner nations."
The jet, known as BF-3, took off near Lockheed Martin's Fort
Worth plant at 0951 CST and arrived at NAS Patuxent River three
hours and 10 minutes later. BF-3 joins two other F-35Bs at the Navy
test site, and will be used mainly to evaluate vehicle systems and
expand the aircraft's aerodynamic and structural-loads envelope.
The airplane will also focus on weapons testing, and will carry and
release most of the weapons the F-35B will use in combat. Two more
F-35Bs will join the test operation in the near future. The latter
airplanes will be the primary test assets for the F-35's integrated
mission systems.
In addition to flight testing, the F-35 Program is using the
Autonomic Logistic Information System (ALIS) for maintenance
actions, spares tracking and technical data support. ALIS is part
of the F-35's innovative sustainment architecture monitored by the
F-35 Autonomic Logistics Global Sustainment (ALGS) Operations
Center in Fort Worth. The early deployment of the F-35 net-enabled
logistics system to be used by all nine partner countries helps
ensure the F-35's smooth transition to operational status, and is a
key enabler for lower life cycle costs.
The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation fighter, combining
advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor
information, network-enabled operations, advanced sustainment, and
lower operational and support costs. Lockheed Martin is developing
the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman
and BAE Systems. Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are
under development: the Pratt & Whitney F135 and the GE
Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136.
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