Aircraft

Lockheed Martin has released some photographs of the first F-35A-1 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) development aircraft assembled in its Fort Worth, Texas facility as it was moved out of its hangar on Sunday (pictured below).

The aircraft will now undergo an intensive period of ground testing and its maiden flight is planned for the final quarter.

The move on 19 February marked the end of a design update from the concept development phase of the programme. “Our team’s engineers, mechanics and assemblers deserve high praise for the precise way in which this aircraft came together with very few issues,” says Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and JSF programme manager. “This level of quality, [which] was achieved on our first aircraft, at the beginning of our learning curve, signals good things for the reliability and affordability of the thousands of F-35s that will follow,” he says.

The aircraft (a conventional take-off and landing variant) will now undergo a fuel system check followed by structural coupling and ground vibration testing. Engine runs will begin in the second quarter and will lead into taxi tests in advance of first flight.

Lockheed Martin built two X-35A JSF concept demonstrators in Palmdale, California in the late 1990s, the first of which took its maiden flight in October 2000.

All photos © John Kent / Lockheed Martin