F-35 Lightning II aircraft operating at 12 different locations worldwide
surpassed the 50,000 flight hour mark this month. The first flight hour
was achieved by an F-35B aircraft, BF-01, June 1, 2008. The 25,000 flight
hour milestone occurred in December 2014, six years and six months later.
As a sign of program growth and maturity, the second 25,000 flight hours
were reached only one year and two months later. |
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“The F-35 program continues to grow and accelerate
as we complete additional flight testing and increase deliveries to
our U.S. and partner warfighters,” said Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan,
F-35 Joint Program Executive Officer. “The next 50,000 hours will
be achieved much quicker as we double the size of the F-35 fleet worldwide
in the next three years alone.”
Flight hours are divided into two main categories: Operational flying
hours, flown by 155 jets delivered to six different nations, and System
Development and Demonstration (SDD) flight test hours, flown by 18 aircraft
assigned to the Integrated Test Forces at Edwards AFB, and NAS Pax River.
Of the 50,000 hours, operational jets flew approximately 37,950 hours
while SDD aircraft flew 12,050 hours. More than one third of the program’s
flight hours were flown in 2015 alone. Among the three variants, approximately
26,000 hours were flown by the F-35A, 18,000 hours by the F-35B and
6,000 by the F-35C.
F-35s are flying at eight operating locations: Edwards Air Force Base,
California, Eglin AFB, Florida, Hill AFB, Utah, Luke AFB, Arizona, Marine
Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, MCAS Yuma, Arizona, Naval
Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and Nellis AFB, Nevada. Jets are
also flown at two F-35 depot locations at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina,
and the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill AFB, Utah. Flight hours
were also recorded at the two F-35 production facilities at Cameri,
Italy, and Fort Worth, Texas.
To date, more than 250 F-35 pilots and 2,400 aircraft maintainers from
six nations are trained and more than 110 jets are jointly under construction
at both production facilities.
Three distinct variants of the F-35 will replace the F-16 Fighting Falcon
and A/OA-10 Thunderbolt II for the U.S. Air Force, the F/A-18 Hornet
for the U.S. Navy, the F/A-18 and AV-8B Harrier for the U.S. Marine
Corps, and a variety of fighters for at least ten other countries. Following
the U.S. Marine Corps' July 2015 combat-ready Initial Operational Capability
(IOC) declaration, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy intend to attain
service IOC this summer and in 2018, respectively.
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Lt.
Col. Tom Fields, an F-35 Lightning II test pilot assigned to the F-35
Pax River Integrated Test Force (ITF) at Air Test and Evaluation Squadron
(VX) 23, conducts external weapons testing Feb. 1 during flight 434
of aircraft BF-02. (U.S. Navy photo)