F-35 JSF

Lockheed Martin, the Missile Defense Agency and the USAF connected an F-35, U-2 spy-plane, and a ground station as part of a missile defense exercise.

The F-35 Lightning II fighter showed off its capability during the latest Red Flag Exercise earlier this month. Flown by airmen from the 388th Fighter Wing’s 4th Fighter Squadron, the 5th generation fighter took part in the aerial war games involving 3,000 personnel.

A Royal Navy F-35B Lightning II VSTOL fighter has conducted the first ever Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing (SRVL), a maneuver that allows the F-35B to land while carrying a heavy load of fuel and weapons, without needing arrestor cables.

The Royal Navy re-entered the strike carrier business as the first two F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters touched down on the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth on September 25 on the first of more than 500 take-offs and landings scheduled over the next 11 weeks.

Lockheed Martin's three F-35 Lightning II strike fighter variants have completed what the company called the most comprehensive flight test program in aviation history. On April 11, US Navy test aircraft CF-2 completed the final developmental test flight of the SDD phase of the program.

Lockheed Martin says that the three variants of the F-35 Lightning II have completed over 100,000 flight hours and the next-generation fighter aircraft is on its way to completing its final System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase.

​It's not the first time the F-35 Lightning II has appeared at an air show, but it is the first time it has wowed crowds with a full aerobatic display. An F-35A showed the public what it could do at the 2017 Paris Air Show on Monday, in the aircraft's aerial demonstration debut.

​The US Air Force announced today that the F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation fighter aircraft is combat ready. The aircraft met all its key criteria for being declared operational after an F-35A made its first air-to-air kill by engaging and destroying a target drone using a heat-seeking missile.

The US Marine Corps has declared the F-35B Lightning II operational. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121) is now officially cleared for worldwide deployment after a five-day Operational Readiness Inspection.

The F-35C Lightning II carrier variant Joint Strike Fighter took a major step toward operational service this week with its first arrested landing on a US Navy carrier off the coast of San Diego, California.

Lockheed Martin announced on Monday that an F-35B fighter jet made its first vertical takeoff on May 10 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.

For the first time, a pair of F-35C Joint Strike Fighters have simultaneously refueled from a KC-130 tanker aircraft.