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two 2,000lb weapons that can be carried
internally by both the F-35A and C.
On July 28, 2009, Lockheed Martin
unveiled the first F-35C carrier variant
at Fort Worth. F-35C CF-01 made its
maiden flight on June 6, 2010.
Lockheed Martin at Fort Worth and the
joint industry/service teams at Edwards
AFB, California, and at Patuxent River,
Maryland, got into the massive SDD
flight-testing project in earnest.
As with all major aircraft programmes,
there were delays. The SDD test articles
took longer to build than planned,
primarily due to parts being produced
late and configuration changes. The
DoD’s Joint Estimate Team (JET)
concluded that it would take longer and
cost more to complete F-35 development
than the JPO had believed.
At the 2009 Paris Air Show, the
then chief of the JPO Maj Gen David
Heinz gave some interesting milestone
information for SDD. He said that
the test programme, including
ABOVE: The rst F-35B BF-01 made a debut vertical landing on March 18, 2010. Lockheed Martin
LEF T: The massive F-35 production line at Fort Worth, Texas. As the F-35 moves towards full-
rate production, the DoD will move from purchasing aircraft in one-year blocks to multiyear
procurement contracts. Lockheed Martin
BELOW: Night trials of F-35B BF-04 demonstrate the swivelling main engine exhaust nozzle.
This hot exhaust is complemented by the cool-air Rolls-Royce Lift-Fan behind the cockpit.
Lockheed Martin/Dane WiedmannABOVE: In 2010, Robert Gates put the F-35B on probation. It sparked a decision in the UK
to change variant to the F-35C, a move that was reversed in May 2012 to the original F-35B
plan, partly to remove the need to perform costly modi cations to the Royal Navy’s two Queen
Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. US DoD
LEF T: The rst F-35A was aircraft AA-1, which was subsequently used for destructive live- re
ground testing at China Lake from 2009. Lockheed Martin