Lockheed Martin said April 20 that the seventh F-35 flight test aircraft, an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant dubbed AF-2, had that day flown for the first time and would be used to validate the CTOL weapons suite. Company test pilot Jeff Knowles took off in AF-2 around 6 p.m. CDT from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Tex., for a one-hour flight. James Sandstrom, Lockheed’s F-35A program manager, called the first flight “a significant achievement for the F-35 program.” AF-2 is the first F-35 to have the internal GAU-22/A 25-mm gun system, made by General Dynamics, will demonstrate internal and external weapons capability throughout the required flight envelope, according to the company release.
Defense experts say the drone threat represents only part of a larger, looming problem: U.S. air bases in the Pacific are increasingly vulnerable to air attacks.