Free Republic

The Navy made history Saturday when it launched the first aircraft from the Naval Air Systems Command, Lakehurst, N.J., test site using the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, technology. The Navy has been using steam for more than 50 years to launch aircraft from carriers. Saturday, the Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) program launched an F/A-18E Super Hornet using the EMALS technology that will replace steam catapults on future aircraft carriers. “This is a tremendous achievement not just for the ALRE team, but for the entire Navy,” said Capt. James Donnelly, ALRE program manager. “Saturday’s EMALS launch demonstrates...

The F-35 test program is maintaining pace and has completed its 500th flight. The notable flight was achieved by the BF-04 STOVL variant on Thursday November 18 at NAS Patuxent River. The three-hour sortie was mainly to evaluate avionics software. Still only half way through November the program has reached its planned number of about 50 flights for the month. A total of 366 flights have been flown this year, well within reach of the 394 due by year's end. Over 5,000 flights are planned by 2015 for all the three F-35 variants.

US Navy has received first stealth fighter F-35C Lightning II carrier variant, from Lockheed Martin, the company announced on Tuesday. The aircraft departed from NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base and arrived at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Maryland on Saturday at 04.31 pm GMT. The aircraft has achieved successful air refuels at a maximum load of 19,800 pounds during the flight. The F-35C will conduct air-to-air refueling and performance tests at Patuxent River. The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation fighter aircraft, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations, advanced...

Good progress is being made in flight testing by the CTOL and CV versions. F-35B STOVL mode flights have resumed, but the variant is still behind schedule. However, it is neither the CTOL nor the CV model that holds the current speed and g-load records for the F-35. That honor befalls the F-35B STOVL. Recently the jet accomplished Mach 1.32 and 7 g's, the maximum g's the STOVL is designed for.

Development of the next generation of warplane is already over budget and behind schedule. Hidden in a hangar at the US Navy's Patuxent River Air Base, in Maryland, away from prying eyes and shaded from the intense sun, US and British ground crew made the final preparations before the plane took to the clear blue skies. RAF and Royal Navy personnel are already working alongside American crews as they conduct the final trials before it goes into production. There's nothing particularly unusual about the Lockheed Martin JSF's appearance. It looks like a modern jet fighter. It's what you can't see...

Extending development by three years on two F-35 variants would not be enough to keep the restructured programme on track. But Lockheed Martin's flight-test programme gained significant new resources to reduce the risk of further delays in the overall restructuring announced on 1 February. Namely, the US Department of Defense will buy another flight-test aircraft in the fourth lot of low-rate initial production (LRIP). The US Marine Corps and US Navy also would "loan" three operational aircraft to Lockheed to participate in the flight-test programme. Doug Pearson, Lockheed vice-president for the F-35's integrated test force, explains how the new resources...

A spot-on rotation after an 8s take-off roll should have excited - or at least relaxed - the high-ranking programme officials lining the runway at the US Navy's Patuxent River NAS in Maryland on 17 March. BAE Systems test pilot Graham Tomlinson had just proved that the Lockheed Martin F-35B can indeed take off from amphibious carriers and small runways. Checking-off the test point also would clear the way for Lockheed to stage the F-35B's first vertical landing the next day. Coming six weeks after a major restructuring caused by a $100 billion increase in cost projections, the F-35 Joint...

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time June 10, achieving a significant milestone. The aircraft accelerated to Mach 1.07 (727 miles per hour) on the first in a long series of planned supersonic flights. "For the first time in military aviation history, supersonic, radar-evading stealth comes with short takeoff/vertical landing capability," said Bob Price, Lockheed Martin's F-35 U.S. Marine Corps program manager. "The supersonic F-35B can deploy from small ships and austere bases near front-line combat zones, greatly enhancing combat air support with higher sortie-generation rates." The...

The first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter flew at 40 knots (46 mph) prior to a slow landing at 75-knot (86 mph), at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, on Wednesday. The flight was one of the last missions before the aircraft's first vertical landing. The flight has confirmed the stealth aircraft's capability at low speeds. The F-35B's short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) propulsion system generates more than 41,000 pounds of vertical thrust, and enables airspeeds from zero to Mach 1.6, according to report by the Lockheed Martin. The F-35B STOVL variant allows operations from amphibious ships and...

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., today. "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...