Italy’s first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) made its inaugural flight on Monday, marking the first time the jet has ever been flown outside of the United States.
The plane—which is designated AL-1—took off at 1:05 p.m. from Cameri Air Base, Italy, and flew for just less than an hour and a half in military airspace just south of Turin. A second flight is slated to take place on Wednesday, Bill Gigliotti, the Lockheed Martin [LMT] test pilot that flew AL-1, told reporters during a Sept. 8 conference call.
“It was a very successful first flight. The jet is in fantastic shape, and we’re prepping the jet as we speak right now to go fly tomorrow,” he said. In the second flight, Gigliotti said he would focus on testing the stability of the aircraft. “I have no doubt that the flight could probably be very short” because there are few checks remaining to be performed.
Because Italy’s F-35s are comparable to the United States’ planes in terms of software and hardware, “this jet surprised me very little,” Gigiliotti said.
“I think we’re going to change the way multirole fighters are viewed in the future because of what the F-35 brings,” he said. “[In] yesterday’s flight, all the systems were turned on and operating functionally, and the helmet was great. Every airplane flies with our HMD (helmet mounted display).”
AL-1 runs a version of the software called 3I-R5,which is equivalent to what is currently installed on the recently-fielded Marine Corps jets, said Bob Dooley, who leads Lockheed’s F-35 Italian campaign. Later on its lifespan, it will be upgraded with the aircraft’s final 3F software.
The plane was assembled at the Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility in Cameri, which will be responsible for building Italy’s F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant and the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant, as well as assembling F-35As for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, a Lockheed Martin news release stated.
The Italian government owns the facility, while Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi runs the production line with help from Lockheed Martin. Work at the FACO began in 2013, and it rolled out AL-1 in March.
The FACO will also have a hand in maintaining European JSFs. Last year, the Defense Department chose Italy to provide F-35 initial airframe maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) capability by 2019 for the European region (Defense Daily, Dec. 11, 2014). F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan noted that Italy had already sunk more than $1 billion into building the facility, which played a pivotal role in the decision to award MRO&U work to the country.
After the Lockheed Martin-sponsored test flights, a Defense Contract Management Agency pilot will fly AL-1, Dooley said. Then, the United States government will conduct various “other verifications and administrative items” before delivering the aircraft to the Italian government by the end of the year.
The first five Italian F-35s will be based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona for pilot training. The next five will be delivered to an Italian air base beginning in 2016, making it “very likely” that Italy will be the first international country with operational aircraft, Dooley said.
The JSF will replace Italy’s AV-8 Harriers, Panavia Tornados and AMX fighters.