Pratt & Whitney’s F135 initial flight test powerplant for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has finished successful runs at NAS JRB Fort Worth, Tex., which is near Lockheed Martin’s final assembly plant, according to a company statement. The company says the runs took place at an indoor facility that had been modified to handle the new engine’s 40,000 pounds of thrust—which makes it “the most powerful fighter engine ever built.”
The Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is behind schedule and may significantly overrun its expected cost, which could partially explain why the service is reviving the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon.