F-35 Testing Progresses; UK Rethinks Switch to F-35C | Aviation International News

F-35 Testing Progresses; UK Rethinks Switch to F-35C

Lockheed Martin has described progress in the F-35 development program, and solutions to some of the problems that have recently been identified.

An F-35A flew with external weapons and pylons for the first time last month. The outer wing stations held AIM-9X air-to-air missiles for the captive-carry flight test. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)

By Chris Pocock • Defense Correspondent

March 16, 2012

Lockheed Martin has described progress in the F-35 development program, and solutions to some of the problems that have recently been identified. Having exceeded the planned flight-test sorties and test points in 2011 by 15 percent, the company is hoping for similar gains this year. Of the 59,585 test points scheduled for the development phase through 2016, just over one-fifth had been flown by the end of December. F-35A models have reached the maximum speed of Mach 1.6, and an altitude of 43,000 feet. The Block 2A software is now flying on the aircraft, three months behind schedule. Lockheed Martin vice president of F-35 customer engagement Steve O’Bryan noted that Block 2 contained seven million lines of code, and there “had not been a single abort” of an F-35 flight due to software.

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