The Navy’s flight test center at NAS Patuxent River, Md., now has a new $24 million facility with the prime purpose of testing the Navy and Marine Corps versions of the F-35. Under current plans, Pax River will get a flight-test F-35B, the Marine Corps short takeoff and vertical landing variant in early 2008. The Navy’s F-35C carrier-landing variant will follow in 2009. The JSF is not new to Pax River, since the center participated in testing of the demonstration X-35C in 2001.
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.