By John Milliman TEAM Public Affairs, Patuxent River
Appropriately, the Marine Corps took its first official "test drive" of the Lockheed Martin X-35 Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., when Maj. Art Tomassetti became the first Marine pilot to fly the aircraft Nov. 10, the Corps' 225th birthday.

Although the Marine Corps will be evaluating the Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing variant, Tomassetti, assigned to the Joint Strike Fighter Joint Test Team at Paxtuxent River, flew the X-35A (Conventional Takeoff and Landing variant designed to meet Air Force specifications) to begin his familiarization process with the highly advanced aircraft.

"The X-35B will begin its flight testing next year and the focus will be on the STOVL flying qualities," explained Tomassetti, a graduate of the Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River (Class 112).

In the meantime, flying the Air Force variant will help him prepare. "The X-35A represents, for all practical purposes," he said, "the X-35B when it's not in STOVL mode. Put simply, the X-35A gives us excellent representation of how the Marine Corps/United Kingdom variant handles up and away."