JSF passes another key test

The F-35B Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter is one step closer to accomplishing its first short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) flight after a successful test Thursday at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

The F-35B is a fifth-generation fighter jet and the first aircraft in history to combine “stealth with short takeoff/vertical landing capability and supersonic speed,” allowing it take off and land on small ships.

When regular airplanes fly, lift is created from the wing, but for hovering jets like the F-35B, it’s created from the jet itself.

Test pilot Graham Tomlinson successfully engaged the lift propulsion system for 14 minutes during a test sortie. Tomlinson, a test pilot with BAE Systems — a Lockheed partner on the project — initiated the system and practiced slowing the aircraft down from 288 mph as if it were getting ready to hover and then once again increasing the speed.

The first full STOVL flight is expected to take place this spring, but contractors first have to conduct a series of tests that involve progressively slowing the aircraft down while in flight, allowing it to reach a hovering position and ultimately landing vertically.

“The joint F-35 industry and government team has already shown during extended ground tests that the STOVL propulsion system performs well, and thousands of hours of component testing has validated its durability. Now we are seeing early proof that the system operates in flight as our team predicted,” said Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager, in a statement.

Despite several delays in the program, Commandant Gen. James Conway told reporters in December that he is confident the first operational squadron will stand up in 2012 as promised. The F-35B, which will replace the AV-8B Harrier, EA-6B Prowler and the F/A-18 Hornet, is the first of three variants to be introduced in the U.S. The Navy’s carrier variant is expected to enter the fleet in 2015.

“We have accepted risk now for a number of years by not buying fourth-generation airplanes, such as the Navy has done, to await the arrival of this aircraft,” Conway said during the briefing.