Air Force test pilots successfully restarted the F-35A’s F135 engine for the first time in flight during recent test flights at Edwards AFB, Calif. “The pilot literally turns the engine off and then he can either use ram air effect from the motion of the airframe or he can also do a starter-assisted start,” said John Kelly, test manager at the Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee. AEDC evaluated the engine on the ground prior to the first air-start tests at Edwards in March to develop baseline data and establish safe flight-test parameters. “We’ve done those tests here before they ever did them out there,” explained Kelly. Testers at Edwards will also conduct similar trails of the F-35B short-takeoff and vertical-landing variant, said propulsion integration chief Melanie Link. (Edwards report by Philip Lorenz III)
Navy CCA Program’s Shape Coming into Focus
Oct. 17, 2025
In announcing its Navy Collaborative Combat Aircraft contract, General Atomics has provided some clues as to where the service is heading with its version of an armed, autonomous fighter escort. It will likely be quite different from the Air Force version.
