Tag Archives: f-35b

F-35B Makes First Vertical Landing at Sea

The US Marine Corps’ STOVL variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35B Lightning II, has made its first vertical landing aboard the USS Wasp while it was underway, flown by US Marine Corps Test Pilot LtCol Fred Schenk.  (The Wasp is a straight-deck amphibious assault ship, not an aircraft carrier.)  Interestingly, they didn’t mention the subsequent takeoff, which would likely have also been a first.

The DoD has posted a short video of the landing — which was likely a much longer event than shown — on YouTube.

 

STOVL F-35B Goes Supersonic, but Not First

The Military Times recently pronounced that the F-35 became “first US STOVL aircraft” to go supersonic.

They were, of course, wrong.

In 2001, Lockheed Martin’s ineptly designated X-35B — the prototype of the STOVL F-35 — not only achieved supersonic flight, but it did so on the same sortie that it achieved a short field take off and vertical landing.  This was a first not only for a US aircraft, but a first in history.

An article by Marine Major Arthur Tomassetti, the test pilot on one of the sorties, describes the event.  (Interestingly, he notes that the sortie had to work around a memorial service at Edwards Air Force Base.  Test pilot Major Aaron “C-Dot” George and civilian flight photographer Judson Brohmer were killed just 3 days prior during a test sortie.)

F-35B Hovers for First Time

Update: The F-35B has now accomplished the significant milestone of a vertical landing. Video from some of the testing can be seen here.

A news article at the Marine Times notes that the F-35B, the Marine Corps variant intended to replace the STOVL Harrier, has hovered in flight for the first time.  Flight test programs are built on gradual advances, and as a result the JSF did not land from a hover, though it did a slow speed landing at 70 knots (probably about half the speed of a normal landing).

Like many large military acquisition programs, the F-35 test program has come under increasing criticism for delays and potential cost increases.