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F-35 may see combat in 2018
After a very long and problematic development process, the F-35 Lightning II is about to serve on the front lines. The US Marine Corps is deploying the F-35B (the short takeoff and vertical landing variant) to ships in the Central and Pacific Command theaters in the spring and summer of 2018. The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit is traveling aboard the USS Essex, which is headed to the Middle East, while the 31st will be attached to the USS Wasp and might head to the coast of North Korea.
Marine Corps finally declares the F-35B ready for combat
After years of testing and development, production setbacks and cost overruns and more than half a trillion dollars invested, the F-35B fighter jet has finally passed its biggest milestone to date: it's achieved initial operational capability (IOC) within the US Marine Corps. That means that the F-35B can now be deployed around the world and employed in active combat.
Production F-35B performs first vertical takeoff, won't do it often (video)
For the first time ever, a production-grade Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II has performed a vertical takeoff (VTO) maneuver, followed by a short hover at low altitude and vertical landing. Though the US Marines had required such a function from the outset of the program (which has already been performed by prototype F-35Bs) it can only be used for very short jaunts. That's because the $300 million jet, like the Harrier before it, can't carry any armaments or much fuel in such a configuration -- meaning almost all of its takeoff and landings will be of the non-vertical, short variety instead. Meanwhile, the Air Force said it'll deploy the F-35A variant a year earlier than predicted in mid-2016, according to Reuters, giving the much beleaguered program a double-shot of good news. Head after the break to catch the rather dramatic video.
F-35B supersonic jet's first mid-air hover (video)
VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) is no great shakes in a wargadget these days -- and a craft like the F-35B, with its short-take off and vertical-landing capabilities might be even less shocking -- but jets that stop whatever they're doing mid-air to just hover awhile? That's another story entirely. The $83 million-plus, supersonic stealth jet did just that yesterday, according to Lockheed Martin. The flight began with a conventional takeoff and the aircraft hit about 200 knots before the pilot switched her into STOVL, culminating in a zero airspeed hover 150 feet above the runway. This is the first "mid-air hover" by the aircraft, and if development continues at the pace most of these programs do it should see active service sometime around Engadget's 25th birthday. Video after the break.
