March 22, 2010 — Lockheed Martin’s F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter landed vertically for the first time last week, confirming its required ability to land in confined areas both on land and water.
“Today’s vertical landing onto a 95-foot square pad showed that we have the thrust and the control to maneuver accurately both in free air and in the descent through ground effect,” F-35 Lead STOVL Pilot Graham Tomlinson said March 18.
Tomlinson performed an 80-knot (93 mph) short takeoff from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, at 1:09 p.m. EDT Thursday. About 13 minutes into the flight, he positioned the aircraft 150 feet above the airfield, where he commanded the F-35 to hover for approximately one minute then descend to the runway. The day before, Tomlinson also made two firsts in the 5th generation fighter plane; hovering above the ground - a precursor to a vertical landing - and making a short, low-speed takeoff, as it would from a Navy amphibious ship.
Doug Pearson, Lockheed Martin vice president of F-35 Test and Verification, said, “The successful first vertical landing met our test objectives and demonstrates the F-35B’s capacity to operate from a very small area at sea or on shore – a unique capability for a supersonic, stealth fighter. This is the first of many such tests to fully define the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) characteristics of the world’s most capable 5th generation fighter.”
The aircraft in Thursday’s test, known as BF-1, is one of three F-35B STOVL jets currently undergoing flight trials at the Patuxent River test site. It is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney F135 turbofan engine driving a counter-rotating Rolls-Royce LiftFan®. The shaft-driven LiftFan system, which includes a Rolls-Royce three-bearing swivel duct that vectors engine thrust and under-wing roll ducts, produces more than 41,000 pounds of vertical lift. The F135 is the most powerful engine ever flown in a fighter aircraft.
The F-35B will replace U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II STOVL fighters and F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters. The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, and the Italian Air Force and Navy will employ the F-35B as well.
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The Lockheed Martin F-35B begins descending to its first vertical landing March 18, 2010. (Lockheed Martin Photo by Damien A. Guarnieri)
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II in flight with refueling probe extended. (Lockheed Martin Photo)
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