Aircraft

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter prototype AA-1 registered its first Mach 1.05 test point on 13 November, passing the milestone flight test event carrying a full, 2,450kg (5,400lb) inert weapons load. Lockheed Martin says this includes two Boeing 907kg joint direct attack munitions and two Raytheon AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles.

In all, the AA-1 completed four runs to Mach 1.05, achieving about eight minutes of supersonic speed.

The supersonic flight began after a take-off at about 2pm from Fort Worth, Texas. Earlier the same day, AA-1 had also completed a high-subsonic flight test to evaluate flutter.

© Senior Airman Julius Delos Reyes/US Air Force

The milestone event came almost two years after the December 2006 roll-out of AA-1. The aircraft was grounded for several months after design changes to fix an in-flight electrical malfunction that occurred in May 2007. More recently, the aircraft deployed to Edwards AFB, California, for a three-week series of flight tests in October (pictured above).