Forum: F-35 milestones

1,000th F-35 Flight 20 June 2011

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/news_ite ... tem_id=389

"Lt. Col. Leonard Kearl was at the controls for the 1,000th F-35 flight on 20 June 2011. The 1.8-hour flight, completed in F-35A AF-6, originated from Edwards AFB, California."

BigPic: http://www.codeonemagazine.com/images/n ... 4_5144.jpg

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F-35 Flight Test Update 5 7 July 2011

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/galleries.html

"Since March 2011, the F-35 program has completed more than 200 additional flights and, as of late June 2011, had surpassed 1,400 flight hours and 1,000 total flights."

Update: F-35 Flight Test Update 5 14 July 2011 By Denni Cravins

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/article.html?item_id=75

"The previous installment of the F-35 Flight Test Update wrapped up with the F-35 program reaching 1,000 cumulative flight hours during an AF-1 and AF-4 formation flight at the US Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California, on 8 March 2011. Since then, the program has completed more than 200 additional flights and, as of late June, had surpassed 1,400 flight hours and 1,000 total flights. Five F-35s have surpassed 100 total flights, and sixteen F-35s are flying at four locations, the newest of which is the 33rd Fighter Wing, the F-35 training center at Eglin AFB, Florida. A total of twenty-five pilots have flown the F-35, and twenty-one of them are currently flying the aircraft.

F-35A AF-1 expanded the flight envelope to Mach 1.53. F-35C CF-3 joined the test force at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. CF-2 began jet blast deflector testing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in preparation for carrier trials. By mid-2011, the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant had logged ten times more vertical landings than in all of 2010. F-35B pilots have also performed more than 230 short takeoffs since arriving at NAS Patuxent River in late 2009."

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/news_ite ... tem_id=397

100 Flights For F-35C

Posted 9 July 2011

The F-35C fleet reached 100 total flights when F-35C CF-2 flew back to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, after completing jet blast deflector training at the Naval Air Engineering Center at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Lockheed Martin Delivers Second F-35 Production Jet In A Week
FORT WORTH, Texas, July 20th, 2011 -- It was wheels up Wednesday morning for Lockheed Martin’s second F-35A Lightning II production jet delivery in a week. Maj. Joseph T. “OD” Bachmann (Marine Corps) piloted the aircraft, known as AF-8, to Eglin Air Force Base where it arrived at 11:50 a.m. CDT. AF-8 joins AF-9 which Lockheed Martin delivered to the 33rd Fighter Wing last Thursday. The jets will be used for training F-35 pilots and maintainers who are slated to begin course work at the base’s new F-35 Integrated Training Center this fall. AF-8 is the eighth F-35 to be delivered in 2011.

JBD Testing A Key Step For Joint Strike Fighter Aviation Week & Space Technology Jul 18, 2011 p. 84
by Amy Butler | Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

http://www.navair.navy.mil/lakehurst/nl ... esting.pdf (125Kb)

"...As of June 30, Lockheed Martin officials say the F-35 program has accomplished 18% more flights than the planned 378 and 30% more test points than the planned 2,996. They break down by variant as follows:

F-35A conventional version with 208 flights (180 planned).
F-35B Stovl with 170 flights (138 planned).
F-35C with 70 flights (60 planned).

Test-point statistics are:

F-35A with 1,578 (1,533 planned).
F-35B with 1,528 (1,072 planned).
F-35C with 765 (391 planned).

The Stovl version has also executed 116 vertical landings to date."

Looks like they ramped up the testing rate a little. I'm assuming that these numbers are for the year, not just the 2nd quarter. In the 1st quarter of the year they flew 206 SDD flights and 242 this quarter, a 17.5% increase.

F-35A 08-0751 (AF-13) in the pattern at NFW today.

From LM FAST FACTS dated 13 July 2011:

https://ex.democracydata.com/243F8CB0E1 ... cc798e.pdf

"As of July 12, 2011, the F-35 flight test program has conducted 1,011 System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flights total, including AA-1 and 464 flights in 2011"

Quote:

Lockheed Martin F-35 Flight Test Progress Report

"FORT WORTH, Texas, July 26th, 2011 -- Lockheed Martin’s F-35 flight test program moves closer to achieving year-end milestones since the last update issued June 13. The F-35 Lightning II 5TH Generation multirole fighter conducted 107 test flights, bringing the total number of flights for the year to 518.

Overall, the F-35 program remains ahead of goals for test flights. Through July 25, the program accomplished 518 flights versus a plan of 476.

Several flight test and production key milestones were accomplished since the last report:

The fifth Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II short take off/vertical landing (STOVL) flight test aircraft was delivered to the Marine Corps arriving at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Md., on July 16.
AF-9, the first production F-35 delivered to Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Fla., arrived July 14 and AF-8, the second Eglin jet, was delivered July 20.
AF-8 is the eighth F-35 delivered in 2011. The jets will be used for activities in concert with training F-35 pilots and maintainers at the new F-35 Integrated Training Center.
Jet Blast Deflector (JBD) testing was performed by F-35C Lightning II carrier variant (CV) aircraft CF-2 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. from June 25-July 8. CF-2 successfully completed this portion of tests required to ensure the F-35C is compatible aboard an aircraft carrier.
AF-6 and AF-7 commenced Maturity Flight testing of the training syllabus software at Edwards AFB. This software will be used for training at Eglin AFB this fall.
Four F-35s completed their first flights since the last update: AF-10 on June 26,
AF-11 on July 1, AF-12 on July 8, and AF-13 on July 14.
AF-2 completed the 1,000th test flight (including AA-1) for the F-35 System Development and Demonstration (SDD) test program on July 6.
AF-3, at Edwards AFB, completed the 500th SDD flight for 2011 on July 21.
122 vertical landings have been performed to date.

Cumulative flight test activity totals for 2011 are provided below:

F-35A conventional take off and landing (CTOL) jets have flown 250 times.
F-35B short take off/ vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft have completed 187 flights.
F-35C carrier variant (CV) jets have flown 81 times.
From the start of flight testing in December 2006 through July 25, 2011, F-35s flew 1,065 times, including the production-model flights and AA-1, the original flight test aircraft.

Source: Source: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/pres ... eport.html

F-35 in STOVL mode

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedma ... hotostream

F-35B test aircraft BF-1 on flight 147, Aug. 22, 2011. Lt. Col. Fred Schenk pilots the aircraft in short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) mode.

As of August 3, 2011, the F-35 flight test program has conducted 1,101 System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flights total, including AA-1 (the original flight test aircraft) and 554 flights in 2011

total VL, 130.

Cumulative flight test activity totals as of Aug. 3, 2011 are provided below:
o F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jets have flown 268 times.
o F-35B short takeoff/ vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft have completed 197 flights.
o F-35C carrier variant (CV) jets have flown 89 times.
o From the start of flight testing in December 2006 through August 3, 2011, F-35s flew 1,101 times, including the production-model flights and AA-1, the original flight test aircraft.

• As of September 5, 2011, the F-35 flight test program has conducted 1,154 System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flights total, including AA-1 (the original flight test aircraft) and 607 flights in 2011.

• BF-1 performed a 40 foot hover in calm winds and two vertical landings (VL) for the 150th vertical landing to date on Aug. 31, 2011.

• AF-10 and AF-11 delivered to Eglin AFB, Fla., on Aug. 31, 2011. They join AF-8 and AF-9 assigned to the 33rd Fighter Wing.

• Static testing was completed on the F-35C Lightning II carrier variant (CV) ground article CG-1 at Lockheed Martin Fort Worth, Texas on Aug. 29, 2011. With this achievement, the F-35 Program has accomplished its static structural testing milestone for 2011.

• Jet Blast Deflector (JBD) testing was completed by F-35C Lightning II carrier variant (CV) aircraft CF-2 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. from June 25-August 13, 2011. CF-2 successfully completed this portion of JBD tests required to ensure the F-35C is compatible aboard an aircraft carrier.

• AF-6 and AF-7 commenced Maturity Flight testing of the training syllabus software at Edwards AFB. This software will be used for training at Eglin AFB this fall.

• Cumulative flight test activity totals as of Sept. 5, 2011 are provided below:
o F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jets have flown 294 times.
o F-35B short takeoff/ vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft have completed 217 flights.
o F-35C carrier variant (CV) jets have flown 96 times.

• AF-7 completed last flight of currently required CTOL maturity flights on Aug. 31, 2011.

Lockheed Martin F-35 Flight Test Progress Report 20 Sep 2011

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/pres ... tests.html

FORT WORTH, Texas, September 20th, 2011 -- Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] F-35 flight test program moves closer to reaching year-end milestones since the last update issued July 26. Since then, the F-35 Lightning II 5TH Generation multirole fighter conducted 124 test flights, bringing the total number of flights for the year to 642

...

-BF-1 performed a 40 foot hover in calm winds and two vertical landings (VL) for the 150th VL to date on Aug. 31.
-AF-10 and AF-11 were delivered to Eglin AFB, Fla., Aug. 31. They join AF-8 and AF-9 assigned to the 33d Fighter Wing.
-Static testing was completed on the F-35C Lightning II carrier variant (CV) ground article CG-1 at Lockheed Martin Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 29. With this achievement, the F-35 Program has accomplished its static structural testing milestone for 2011.
-Jet Blast Deflector (JBD) testing was completed by F-35 CV aircraft CF-2 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. from June 25-August 13. CF-2 successfully completed this portion of JBD tests required to ensure the F-35C is compatible aboard an aircraft carrier.
-AF-7 completed its last flight of currently required conventional take off and landing (CTOL) maturity flights on Aug. 31.

F-35 Flight Test Update 6 By Sydney Carroll 02 November 2011

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/article.html?item_id=83

"....BF-2’s flight to the ship brought the 2011 flight total to more than 700, flight hours to more than 1,100, and the vertical landing count beyond 180. By the end of September, F-35B pilots had flown more than 300 short takeoffs in 2011 alone. In the F-35C, pilots had accomplished nearly twenty-five catapult launch tests at Lakehurst. At Edwards AFB, California, the required conventional takeoff and landing maturity flights were completed by the end of August. A total of twenty-seven pilots have flown the F-35. Twenty-one pilots are still flying the aircraft."

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Forum: F-35 milestones

Overview of F-35 test flights