F-35 Lightning II developments

[Coati]

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - BF-17, part of the third lot of Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP 3) F-35B Lightning II aircraft, arrives at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Oct. 4. BF-17 will temporarily add to the complement of F-35B and F-35C test aircraft at the F-35 Integrated Test Facility before heading to its destination at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fu ... ry&id=5140

BF-17 is apparently assigned to NAS PAX to speed up the test program, as has been done with AF-6 & 7 before.

[Coati]

Italy commits to the next 4 F-35As. The long lead funding for 4 aircraft in LRIP-7 awarded to LM. In LRIP-6, Italy already ordered 3 aircraft.

http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk ... f-35s.html

Norway announced it will receive the first F-35A already in 2015, when the defence budget was presented last week, reserving 300 million dollar in 2013 for the JSF. Budget needs approval in the parliament, but general idea is that it will be approved as is.

[Coati]

Three first flight in two days. These are the first LRIP-4 aircraft to fly:

10-5010/OT (AF-22) F-35A f/f 14 October
168718/VM-15 (BF-20) F-35B f/f 14 October
168717/VM-14 (BF-19) F-35B f/f 15 October

[Piet Luijken]

F-35A COMPLETES FIRST IN-FLIGHT WEAPONS RELEASE -- GBU-31 JOINT DIRECT ATTACK MUNITION TEST MISSION

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Oct 17, 2012 – An F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft, completed the first in-flight weapons release of a 2,000 pound GBU-31 BLU-109 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) from a 5th Generation fighter, Oct. 16. The flight was conducted by U.S. Air Force Maj. Matthew Phillips. The aircraft, known as AF-1, jettisoned an instrumented GBU-31 over the China Lake test range from the left internal weapons bay. The F-35A 5th Generation fighter is designed to carry a payload of up to 18,000 pounds using 10 weapon stations. The F-35A features four internal weapon stations located in two weapon bays to maximize stealth capability. The CTOL aircraft can also utilize an additional three external weapon stations per wing if required.

[Stratofreighter]

F-35A COMPLETES FIRST IN-FLIGHT WEAPONS RELEASE -- GBU-31 JOINT DIRECT ATTACK MUNITION TEST MISSION

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Oct 17, 2012 – An F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft, completed the first in-flight weapons release of a 2,000 pound GBU-31 BLU-109 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) from a 5th Generation fighter, Oct. 16. The flight was conducted by U.S. Air Force Maj. Matthew Phillips. The aircraft, known as AF-1, jettisoned an instrumented GBU-31 over the China Lake test range from the left internal weapons bay. The F-35A 5th Generation fighter is designed to carry a payload of up to 18,000 pounds using 10 weapon stations. The F-35A features four internal weapon stations located in two weapon bays to maximize stealth capability. The CTOL aircraft can also utilize an additional three external weapon stations per wing if required.

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... al-377810/

International backing for F-35 hasn’t been stronger, says Lockheed official

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ne-377812/

Australia's first F-35 nears assembly milestone

[Coati]

The deliveries to Eglin are resuming: BF-16 (USMC) and BK-2 (UK) were delivered to Eglin AFB the 19th of October.

Some more news:

Forty five F-35s are flying today; another 15 have been rolled out, and the 112th aircraft is now on the final assembly line. Twenty aircraft (edit: now 22) are now at Eglin AFB, the initial training base; deliveries for the first operational units will be made to Yuma MCAS and Nellis AFB before year-end.

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ ... est-update

[wamovements]

Three first flight in two days. These are the first LRIP-4 aircraft to fly:

10-5010/OT (AF-22) F-35A f/f 14 October
168718/VM-15 (BF-20) F-35B f/f 14 October
168717/VM-14 (BF-19) F-35B f/f 15 October

starnge that they (=Lockheed) call 10-5010 AF-22. I think 10-5010 should be AF-23 (09-5007 is confirmed as AF-20, making 10-5008(nn yet) AF-21 and 10-5009(nn yet) AF-22).


Regards
Dennis

[Coati]

The only reason I can think of is that 09-5008 is assigned to AN-1/F-001, the first KLu F-35A.

[Richard from Rotterdam]

Is there any news on the progress of the Dutch F-35 within the testing programme?

[Coati]

I read somewhere that it will be delivered to Eglin before the end of the year.

[Coati]

Lockheed Martin test pilot Al Norman flew F-35A AN-1 on its inaugural flight on 6 August 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas. AN-1 is the first F-35 built for the Netherlands and the first F-35A for an international partner. The aircraft carries the tail code F-001 and is assigned the USAF serial number 09-5008.

So here is the missing serial number, as I already suspected!

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/news_ite ... tem_id=882

[Starfighter_F-104G]

if all F-35A will have an USAF serial , may be all F-35B will have a BuNo

any info about BuNo for ZM135 and ZM136?

[Melchior Timmers]

They are sold under FMS, right? So most probably they have...

[Coati]

My guess would be 168315 & 168316, following the LRIP-3 USMC BuNo series. But this is only a guess, no fact till confirmed.