The first F-35 structural test airframe specimen (AG-1) has arrived in the UK and is under test at BAES’s Structural and Dynamic Test Facility at Brough. The test programme will last for fifteen months.
    The Pratt & Whitney F135 short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant propulsion system exceeded thrust performance expectations in recently completed tests using the ‘hover pit’, providing more vertical thrust than required by the F-35B STOVL aircraft. F-35B flight testing was resumed on 14 Sept with Graham Tomlinson at the controls.