Pratt & Whitney officials say they will be delivering two F135-PW-100 Joint Strike Fighter engines to the Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold AFB, Tenn., late in October to start conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) qualification tests that will run through January. Thomas Johnson, chief engineer for P&W’s F135 program said the next portion of the development will involve flight clearing for the A-1 first aircraft—scheduled for flight in August 2006.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.