F-35 Lightning 2 fighter completes first test flight
he costliest international warplane project, the F-35 Lightning 2 Joint Strike Fighter, safely completed its first test flight on Friday, advancing a $276.5 billion program financed by the United States and eight other countries.
The flight over Fort Worth, Texas, lasted 38 minutes — about two-thirds the 60 minutes or so the Pentagon’s program office had projected earlier this month. The jet climbed to 15,000 feet. Beesley performed a series of maneuvers to test aircraft handling and the operation of the engine and subsystems, Lockheed said. Two F-16s and an F/A-18 served as escorts, it added in a statement. The single-seat, single-engine F-35 is designed to replace a wide range of aging aircraft, including A-10s, F-16s, F/A-18 Hornets and British-built Harrier jump-jets.
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