A Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing test aircraft last week achieved an impressive milestone, according to Warren Boley, Pratt & Whitney military engines president. “For the first time,” Boley said in an interview, “a pilot pushed a button and the [air]plane landed autonomously.” Boley joked that the pilot could fold his hands behind his head or “read the paper” while the airplane safely settled down to a vertical landing from hover. The flight was the 74th vertical landing of the F-35 test program, and the fact that the Marine Corps was willing to allow the test indicated high confidence in the airplane and its Pratt-supplied F135 engine, Boley told the Daily Report April 8.
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.