Lockh
eed Martin on Dec. 18 rolled out the first short takeoff and vertical landing Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35B, destined for the US Marine Corps and Britain’s Royal Navy and Royal Marine Corps and the Italian Air Force and Navy. The company expects to make first flight in mid-2008. The USAF version, the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant, began its flight tests in December 2006. Despite a later start, the F-35B is slated to become operational for USMC in 2012, a year earlier than USAF’s version. A company release notes that Lockheed has an additional six development STOVL F-35s in production and has the long-lead procurement funding for the first six production F-35Bs, planned for 2011 delivery.
The Air Force’s airlift fleet is in desperate need of modern connectivity, spare parts, and other innovations to keep going amid growing demand and modernization plans still in their infancy, according to a former senior leader and a new research paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
