The first production-equivalent F-35A conventional takeoff and landing Joint Strike Fighter on Nov. 14 took its first flight—an 89-minute stroll during which Lockheed Martin test pilot Doc Nelson flew it from the company’s Fort Worth plant to 20,000 feet, reached 0.6 Mach, and conducted some 360-degree rolls. A Lockheed release notes the AF-1 was built on the same production line—the first modern fighter moving assembly line—as the 31 low rate initial production F-35s now undergoing assembly. Continue
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.