The second F-35C Joint Strike Fighter carrier variant made its first flight last week, prime contract Lockheed Martin [LMT] said.
The test aircraft, known as CF-2, took off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base April 29. Lockheed Martin F-35 Test Pilot Bill Gigliotti piloted the jet on its first flight, the company said.
The aircraft “is scheduled to fly to NAS Patuxent River, Md., later this year, where it will join the first F-35C and four F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing jets to continue flight testing,” Lockheed Martin said yesterday in a press release.
The second F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production-model jet made its first flight earlier this year (Defense Daily, March 8). AF-7 took off from NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, on March 4 and landed there again after an hour and 20-minute flight.
The two production jets and 12 preproduction test aircraft have completed approximately 700 flights since testing began in December 2006, according to officials.
Deliveries of the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant to the Marine Corps also begin this year, while deliveries of production-model F-35Cs to the Navy start next year, according to the new production schedule.