By Marina Malenic
Two Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35A Joint Strike Fighter aircraft were flown from their final-assembly site in Fort Worth, Texas, to Edwards AFB, Calif., on May 17.
The aircraft are the first of up to eight that the company is planning for the Edwards F-35 test fleet, according to a Lockheed Martin press release.
Earlier this year, the Defense Department restructured the F-35 program in the wake of significant cost growth. That move extended the airplane’s development phase and reduced the number of operational aircraft purchased in the early years, instead of bolstering the test fleet.
The F-35’s average-procurement-unit cost has risen to as high as $95 million in 2002 dollars, a growth of up to 89 percent since the program received Milestone B approval in 2001, according to the Defense Department.
Three F-35s are currently undergoing flight trials at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., the primary test site for the Marine Corps’ F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant and the Navy’s F-35C carrier variant. The A-models delivered this week are conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variants that will be flown by the Air Force.
The F-35A is also the primary export version of the airplane. The air forces of Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway have indicated their intent to purchase the F-35A.
Because of the program’s challenges, Air Force brass have said they are delaying by three years to 2016 the date when the F-35A will go into service.
F-35s have conducted more than 200 test flights to date, according to Lockheed Martin. The company is planning to deliver six more test aircraft this year.