Capt. Pamela A. Melroy and McDonnell Douglas pilot Richard M. Cooper set two recognized jet aircraft class records for altitude with a 70,000-kilogram payload (32,169 feet) and greatest mass carried to a height of 2,000 meters (161,023 pounds) in a C-17A at Edwards AFB, Calif.
It'll take up to 18 months for Lockheed Martin to deliver the 100 or so F-35s that went directly from production line to storage, awaiting the completion of Tech Refresh 3 testing. Customers haven't complained about the order in which the backlog is being delivered.