BAE Systems has begun assembling the aft fuselage of the first short takeoff and vertical landing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the company’s Samlesbury, England facility, officials said July 5. BAE expects to deliver the horizontal and vertical tails of the STOVL version—destined primarily for the Marine Corps, but USAF also plans to buy some—to Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Tex., facility for final assembly by the end of the year. BAE also is working on the F-35’s electronic warfare systems suite and advanced low-observable apertures and countermeasure systems.
The Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
