The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme recently completed three major milestones pertaining to software, combat capability, and carrier recovery.
The milestones, which were announced on 29 May, involved the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A, short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B, and carrier variant (CV) F-35C trialling key performance parameters.
Flying out of Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) in California, an F-35A flew a 1.9 hour mission with the first-ever load of Block 3i hardware and software. Block 3i is the next level of capability and is planned to support US Air Force's declaration of F-35A initial operating capability (IOC) in 2016.
For its trial, an F-35B operating over the Point Mugu Sea Test Range off California demonstrated its air-to-air capability when it launched two AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs). The US Marine Corps (USMC) is expected to be the first operator to declare IOC in 2015.
Finally, an F-35C performed a series of maximum sink-rate (21.4 feet per second) arrested landings at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. This was to demonstrate the type's ability to operate in the harsh maritime environment of a pitching and rolling carrier deck. The US Navy plans to declare IOC in 2018.
According to Lockheed Martin, the F-35 fleet has amassed more than 17,000 flight hours to date, with all three variant aircraft at the F-35 Integrated Training Center at Eglin AFB, Florida, surpassing the 5,000 hour milestone in the final week of May.
