Flight test crews at Lockheed Martin have hit some milestones this month as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program slowly progresses. At the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland on May 10, the F-35B short-takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) Lightning II test airplane completed its first vertical takeoff — a flight that also included a vertical landing, the first of which was conducted well over two years ago.
Watch as the JSF pilot vectors 41,000 pounds of thrust from the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine downward to complete the vertical takeoff in the attached video.
