In March, teams from the F-35 Pax River Integrated Test Force and Edwards Air Force Base, California, completed testing on an improved probe light assembly for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps F-35 variants for night refueling.
Read more on this story and the teamwork across three U.S. services at: Aerial refueling probe light evaluations flown with KC-135: Effort to clear Navy, USMC F-35 night refueling envelope.
Team work and co-location at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst resulted in modified Support Equipment (SE) that gives the F-35B Lightning II more capability.
F-35 Lightning jets from the Pax River Integrated Test Force (ITF) left HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), Nov. 19, 2018, after eight weeks flying on and off the 65,000-tonne warship, helping to write the ‘operator’s manual’ so the jets can fly from her deck on front-line operations.
The success of the Westlant 18 deployment – which has also included a visit to New York – allows the Portsmouth, UK-based ship to move on to operational trials next year.
Following an intense four-year competition, the U.S. Department of Defense on 26 October 2001, named the Lockheed Martin lead Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) team as the winner of the contract to develop the F-35 JSF.
Lockheed Martin is the F-35 prime contractor, while Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems are principal partners in the project.
After years of partnership within the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, U.S. and United Kingdom team members from the F-35 Pax River Integrated Test Force (ITF) eagerly anticipate the First of Class Flight Trials (FOCFTs) onboard the U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, this fall.
