http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #364 JULY 2018 // 63

The SDD flight test programme began in
December 2006 when F-35A AA-1 took to
the air. Since then the joint government and
industry team has used 19 test aircraft to
conduct more than 9,200 sorties, accumulated
over 17,000 flight hours and executed
more than 65,000 test points that verified
the design, durability, software, sensors,
weapons capability and performance of
all three variants of the Lightning II.
The programme will officially conclude
when the aircraft’s initial operational test
and evaluation (IOT&E) is executed and
full-rate production is approved, planned
for late next year. Pre-IOT&E events are
already under way, and the evaluation
is scheduled to begin in September.
As part of the SDD, the team conducted
six at-sea detachments and performed more

than 1,500 vertical landing (VL) events with

the F-35B. The developmental flight test

team completed 183 weapon separation

trials, 46 weapons delivery accuracy (WDA)

releases and 33 mission effectiveness

tests, which included numerous multi-

ship missions that pitted up to eight F-35s

against advanced simulated threats.

Although SDD flight testing has been

accomplished, the programme will

continue to develop phased capability

improvements and modernise the F-35.

Peters said of the SDD phase: “It’s the end of

the primary stage of delivery [of the F-35] – the

initial fleet capability. We’ve been to all edges

of the flight envelope, we’ve tested all the

stores – both internally and externally, we’ve

fired missiles and dropped bombs, the sensor

suite is fully checked out and passed fit for

purpose. We’ve concluded what for now is the

primary test programme, with a large number

of deliverables, and we are now transitioning

out of a contractor-led development exercise

into a government sustainment programme.”

The Integrated Test Force (ITF) may have got

over the line for SDD, but the work shows no

sign of letting up. Indeed, according to Martin

Peters, the workload is actually expected to

pick up – it will just function in a different way.

“The HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier

is the big one for us this year,” explained

Peters. “It will encompass most of the

team. Then into 2019 we will also start our

integration work for the new Meteor [beyond-

visual-range air-to-air missile, BVRAAM] and

SPEAR Cap 3 [Selective Precision Effects

At Range Capability 3] weapon in order

to deliver capability in the mid-2020s.”

As the initial F-35Bs return to the UK to form the Royal

Air Force’s No 617 Squadron, Jamie Hunter talks to the

team that’s testing new weapons and taking the aircraft

to the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier for the first time.

F-35

UK gears up for