1st Marine Corps JSF arrives in Maryland - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

1st Marine Corps JSF arrives in Maryland

The first F-35B Joint Strike Fighter landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., on Sunday afternoon.

The test aircraft, known as BF-1, left the Lockheed facility in Fort Worth, Texas, early Friday and flew to Dobbins Air Force Base, Ga., to refuel. It arrived at Patuxent River just before 1 p.m. on Sunday.

BF-1 is the first of five test F-35B Short Take-Off Vertical Landing variants to be assigned to the air station. BF-2 is expected to arrive by the end of this calendar year and BF-3 will follow shortly behind that, Lockheed spokesman John Kent said. The air station also will be home to three Navy carrier test variants.

Before the aircraft can complete its first vertical landing, it must go through a transition phase. When regular airplanes fly, lift is created from the wing. But for hovering jets such as the F-35B, it is created from the jet itself. The transition phase is expected to include a series of flights, during which the aircraft will practice slowing down and transitioning lift from the wing to the jet — a critical step before an actual STOVL flight.

Additional testing will include flying with different weight loads and ordnance payloads, according to a Marine release.

“I’m anxious to have our engineers, our test pilots and our operators get their hands on this jet, and then see what we can do to turn test points and sorties at a rapid rate during the coming months,” said Lt. Gen. George J. Trautman, the deputy commandant for aviation, in a release. Eventually the Joint Strike Fighter will replace the F/A-18 Hornet, AV-8B Harrier, and the EA-6B Prowler.

Marine Fighter/Attack Training Squadron-501, the first squadron that will train Marine JSF pilots and maintainers, is expected to stand up at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in April 2010 as part of the Joint Integrated Training Center. The first operational squadron will stand up in 2012.