F-35B passes key thrust test - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

F-35B passes key thrust test

The Corps’ version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter successfully tested its vertical thrust in April, a key component of its short takeoff and vertical landing capability, defense officials said.

At a special testing site known as a “hover pit,” officials from Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas, demonstrated the F-35B can produce 41,100 pounds of vertical thrust, exceeding the Corps’ requirement of 40,550 pounds, Lockheed Martin officials said.

The vertical thrust capability is critical to the F-35B’s ability to operate from big-deck amphibious assault ships.

The F-35B is slated to join the fleet in 2012 and will eventually replace both the AV-8B Harriers and the F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets. It is designed to be the first aircraft to combine stealth features with short takeoff/vertical landing capability and supersonic speed.

The next milestone test will be demonstrating in-flight transitions to STOVL-mode flight and the first vertical landing, scheduled for this summer at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Lockheed Martin officials said.

The April 23 testing also demonstrated control of the doors associated with the STOVL propulsion system: engine auxiliary inlet, fan inlet, fan exit, roll posts, and doors that open to enable the Rolls-Royce three-bearing swivel duct to articulate and vector engine thrust, Lockheed Martin officials said.