Latest Carrier-based aircraft Stories

PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A Royal Air Force officer on Tuesday became the first active-duty service pilot from the United Kingdom to take to the skies in a Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). RAF Squadron Leader Steve Long piloted BF-2, the second short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B, over Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., logging the aircraft's 18th mission. Long departed at 9:55 a.m. EST...

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) stealth fighter engaged its STOVL propulsion system in flight for the first time today. The successful test is the first in a series of planned STOVL-mode flights that will include short takeoffs, hovers and vertical landings. "The joint F-35 industry and government team has already shown during extended ground tests that the STOVL...

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advanced Photonix, Inc.(R) (NYSE Amex: API) announced today that its subsidiary, Picometrix, LLC has entered into a Phase II SBIR contract from the Air Force to develop a prototype terahertz quality control system. The system will be based on the patented fiber-coupled T-Ray 4000(R) instrument, and utilized to ensure the proper fit of the coated exterior surfaces of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jet, which has been developed...

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Dec. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The second Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) stealth fighter arrived today at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Joseph T. "O.D." Bachmann piloted the aircraft nonstop from Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas, plant to Patuxent River, successfully completing aerial refueling en route. Bachmann departed at 11:07 a.m. EST and arrived in Patuxent River at...

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Joint Combat Aircraft (JCA) program has announced that the United Kingdom has received financial approval to purchase its third Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) F-35B Lightning II operational test aircraft, reinforcing the U.K.'s continued commitment to the Joint Strike Fighter program's upcoming Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E). "The U.K. this week received financial approval to go ahead and purchase the third U.K. STOVL...

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus toured Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) F-35 facility Dec. 18 for a preview of the Department of the Navy's first-ever stealth strike fighter. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091218/DA28957) Secretary Mabus got a firsthand look at BF-2, the second short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B test aircraft, as it conducted its 15th flight in final preparation for its ferry flight to Naval Air Station...

ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has marked successful entry into low rate initial production on the F-35 Lightning II Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS). The first production units have been delivered to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, TX, for integration onto the aircraft. Embedded into the F-35's fuselage with an innovative faceted sapphire window, the low-drag, stealthy EOTS is the world's first and only sensor combining forward-looking...

LANSING, Mich., Nov. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Weather permitting on Monday, November 30, a World War II, F6F-3 Hellcat fighter plane will be raised from the depths of Lake Michigan off the Chicago shoreline. The plane has rested on the lake bottom for more than sixty years after crashing during a training exercise. During the war, navy pilots trained to land on aircraft carriers in Lake Michigan before seeing active duty. The "aircraft carriers" used for training were in fact old Great...

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The first Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) stealth fighter arrived Sunday at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., where it will conduct its first hovers and vertical landings. The ferry flight initiates a sequence of F-35 arrivals at Patuxent River this year and next. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091116/DA11683) Piloted by Lockheed Martin F-35...

FORT WORTH, Texas, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) first optimized conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35 Lightning II fighter made its inaugural flight on Saturday, Nov. 14, the fourth F-35 to begin flight operations. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091116/DA11648) Piloted by Lockheed Martin test pilot David "Doc" Nelson, the F-35A, called AF-1, left Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth plant and flew to 20,000 feet and Mach 0.6. Nelson raised and lowered...