Lockheed Martin F-35 flight test progress report

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 flight test program moves closer to reaching year-end milestones since the last update issued July 26. Since then, the F-35 Lightning II 5th Generation multirole fighter conducted 124 test flights, bringing the total number of flights for the year to 642. Overall, the F-35 system development and demonstration (SDD) flight test remains on or ahead of plan for 2011, despite 15 days of testing lost due to fleet stand-down after a ground mishap involving the Integrated Power Package (IPP). Flight testing was also interrupted at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Md., because of an Aug. 23 earthquake and severe weather associated with Hurricane Irene. During this period of down time, the flight test teams at all locations continued working through planned modifications and maintenance. As of Aug. 31, the fleet remained 8% ahead of plan in year-to-date (YTD) flights.