Posted by Courtney Howard
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md., 2 Jan. 2010. The second Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) stealth fighter arrived at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Joseph T. "O.D." Bachmann piloted the aircraft nonstop from Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas, plant to Patuxent River, completing aerial refueling en route, reveals a company official.
"Pax River is ready to begin the extensive four-year flight test campaign to help field the future of Marine Corps and Navy Aviation," says Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager. "Over the next year, an integrated government/industry test team will ramp up the flight test at Pax River for the F-35B STOVL variant and F-35C carrier variant, and at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant."
This second F-35B aircraft is supported by the F-35 Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) and monitored by the F-35 Autonomics Logistics Global Sustainment (ALGS) Operations Center in Fort Worth.
The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation fighter, offering advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, 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.
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