“The data we saw from VFA-101’S last detachment was eye-
watering in terms of how accurate they were at landing without
bolters, or high or low passes.” CDR Ernest Anderson
60
he F-35C carrier variant (CV) – which
features a number of unique design
characteristics including a wing area
that is 22% larger than its brethren – made its
maiden fl ight from Fort Worth on June 6,- Piloting CF-01 was Lockheed Martin
Test Pilot Jeff Knowles. Upon completion of
the 57-minute fl ight, VADM Thomas J
Kilcline, the then commander of Naval Air
Forces, called it “the beginning of a new
chapter in naval aviation”. He added: “[The
F-35C] will provide the Carrier Strike Group
commander with an unprecedented ability to
counter a broad spectrum of threats and win
in operational scenarios that the current
legacy aircraft cannot address.”
The F-35C was joining the massive $55bn
Joint Strike Fighter System Development and
Demonstration (SDD) fl ight-test programme,
which was formally completed on April 11,
2018, when F-35C test aircraft CF-02
completed a mission to collect loads data
while carrying external 2,000lb (907kg) GBU-
31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and
AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
US Navy plans call for the F-35C to achieve
IOC between August 2018 and February 2019,
with its Block 3F software. However,
according to the director, Joint Strike Fighter
Fleet Integration, RADM Dale Horan: “IOC is
capability- and event-driven, it’s not date-
driven.” As a result, the service’s IOC date
might slip beyond February to sometime later
in 2019 when IOT&E is completed.Unique testing
The F-35C development test work was
headquartered at Naval Air Station Patuxent
River, Maryland, by an Integrated Test Team
under Air Test and Evaluation Squadron
(VX) 23 ‘Salty Dogs’ and Lockheed Martin.
It included both flight envelope clearances
and the variant-specific carrier launch and
recovery elements, conducted on the field Mk7
arrestor system. This early work flagged upsignificant issues with the F-35C’s Arresting
Hook System (AHS) design. Indeed, the early
roll-in arrestments at the Naval Air Warfare
Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) facility
at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New
Jersey, saw zero successful hook engagements
on the Mk7 equipment in eight attempts.
The hook was essentially rolling over the
cable rather than engaging it. Modifi cations to
the AHS were implemented by October 2013
and successful roll-in arrestments with test
aircraft CF-03 followed in January 2014.
Steam catapult ‘shots’ were also completed
at both Lakehurst and at Pax River, followed
by fi eld carrier landing practices (FCLPs), all
building to the ultimate litmus test –
going to sea.
The F-35C made its fi rst arrested landing
aboard an aircraft carrier on November 3, 2014.
First to land aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN 68)
was F-35C CF-03 of VX-23, piloted by CDR Tony
‘Brick’ Wilson, followed by CF-05 piloted by
LCDR Ted ‘Dutch’ Dyckman. The two aircraftREVO LUTION
A FLIGHT
DECK
T
F-35 LIGHTNING II F-35C into service