F-35 Lightning II Testing Begins on USS America 31 Oct 2016 USS America (LHA 6) Public Affairs
"PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- Five Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II aircraft landed on the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) on Friday, October 28.
America will embark seven F-35Bs -- two are scheduled to begin the third shipboard phase of developmental test (DT-III) and five are scheduled to conduct operational testing....
... said Lt. Col. Tom "Sally" Fields, F-35 Patuxent River ITF Government Flight Test director assigned to VX-23. "During the next three weeks, we will be completing critical flight test for both Developmental Test (DT) and Operational Test (OT). The F-35 Pax River ITF and VX-23 will be conducting DT work that will establish the boundaries of safe operation for the F-35B in the 3F configuration. VMX-1 will be conducting OT operations focused on preparing maintenance crews and pilots for the first deployment of the F-35B aboard USS Wasp (LHD 1), scheduled to start in just over a year."
The operational testing will also include simulating extensive maintenance aboard a ship, said Col. George Rowell, commanding officer of VMX-1, based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona.
Rowell stated one of the VMX jets on board will be placed in the hangar bay, taken apart, and put together again, just to make sure everything goes well.
The maintenance work will include the replacement of a lift fan, the specialized equipment made by Rolls Royce and Pratt and Whitney that gives the F-35B variant its short take-off, "jump jet" capability, Rowell said...."
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=97428
WATCH: Marines’ F-35B Executes Perfect Vertical Landing on Ship Hope Hodge Seck 01 Nov 2016
"...In this last round of testing, conducted off the coast of San Diego [commenced Friday 28 Oct 2016], test pilots and planners pushed the envelope by intentionally operating in choppy waters, with swells of up to six feet, to see how the aircraft would handle the tough conditions.
In this video, shot from the back of an MV-22B Osprey on the flight deck, an F-35 approaches the ship in seconds, then hovers in mid-air, churning up clouds of sea spray with its powerful lift fans before descending for a precise vertical landing on the ship. You can see the deck swaying with the elevated swells as the aircraft makes its approach...."
http://www.dodbuzz.com/2016/11/01/wa...-landing-ship/