The Navy is immersed in the second round of developmental testing of its F-35C, the services’ first-ever stealthy carrier-launched fighter. The testing is taking place aboard the USS Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier now off the East Coast of the United States.
The new stealth Joint Strike Fighter is slated to become operational by 2018, service officials said. Over the next five years, the Navy plans to acquire as many as 38 of the new fighters.
The Pentagon’s Joint Strike Fighter Program Executive Office Released the Following Statement:
Two F-35C Lightning II carrier variants conducted their first arrested landings aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) off the coast of the eastern United States on Oct. 2.
U.S. Navy test pilots Cmdr. Tony “Brick” Wilson and LT Chris “TJ” Karapostoles landed F-35C test aircraft CF-03 and CF-05, respectively, aboard USS Eisenhower’s flight deck. The arrested landing is part of the F-35’s two week at-sea Developmental Testing (DT-II) phase.
DT-II is the second of three at-sea test phases planned for the F-35C. Naval aircraft undergo DT-I, -II and -III test phases in order to ensure the development of aircraft that meet specifications and to identify mission critical issues sufficiently early in the test phase to deliver fully capable aircraft in time for their scheduled initial operating capability (IOC).
During DT-I in 2014, the F-35 Lightning II made aviation history when it conducted its inaugural arrested landings and catapult launches aboard an aircraft carrier. The first-ever carrier-based flight operations of the F-35C occurred Nov. 3 aboard USS Nimitz (CVN 68). F-35C test pilots and engineers from the F-35 Lightning II Pax River Integrated Test Force (ITF) based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Patuxent River, Maryland, tested the suitability and integration of the aircraft with carrier air and deck operations in an at-sea environment Nov. 3-14. The F-35C demonstrated exceptional performance both in the air and on the flight deck, accelerating the team’s progress through the DT-I schedule, achieving 100 percent of the threshold test points three days early and conducting night ops during DT-I – an unheard of feat since the Navy’s F-4 era. Test pilots and engineers credited the F-35C’s Delta Flight Path (DFP) technology with significantly reducing pilot workload during the approach to the carrier, increasing safety margins during carrier approaches and reducing touchdown dispersion.
