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Lockheed Martin Delivers Four F-35s to US Air Force and Marine Corps
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With the delivery of four Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft since June 29, an important milestone was achieved. The Department of Defence (DoD) now possesses more operational-coded F-35s than test aircraft. A total of nine F-35s have been delivered for the year, giving the DOD a total of 30 aircraft fleet-wide. Of these, 16 are operational aircraft and 14 are test planes.
“To date, the F-35 programme has focused on system development and flight testing while most recently transitioning to low rate initial production,” said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin for the F-35 programme. “We’ve crossed a critical threshold as we begin delivering our Low-Rate-Initial-Production (LRIP) Lot 3 aircraft. We’re increasingly becoming more operationally focussed. These deliveries illustrate the programme’s natural progression and the maturation that is taking place on a daily basis.”
The four aircraft, which were formally accepted by the Defence Contract Management Agency with the signing of Department of Defence Form 250 (DD-250), are the first jets manufactured as part of LRIP Lot 3. They will soon begin ferrying to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, bringing the total there to 16. The DOD has eight test aircraft at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland and six test aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Three of the jets are F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variants and will be assigned to the U.S. Air Force’s 33d Fighter Wing. One F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft will be assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing’s Marine Fighter/Attack Training Squadron 501. Once at Eglin, the 5th Generation fighters will be used for pilot and maintainer training at the base’s F-35 Integrated Training Centre.
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