F-35B Short Takeoff Verticle Landing (STOVL) Lightning II
The third F-35B Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing (STOVL) Lightning II for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence has been delivered by Lockheed Martin (LM). The aircraft, known as BK-3 (ZM137), was ferried on a 90-minute flight from LM’s F-35 production facility at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., where it will be used for pilot and maintenance training.
The F-35 Lightning II, a fifth generation fighter, combines advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. The F-35 is being developed by LM with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. The program’s more than 500 British suppliers will build 15 per cent of each F-35 produced. Numerous F-35 components including the aft fuselage, fuel system and crew escape system will be manufactured in the UK. Key F-35 suppliers in the UK include BAE Systems, GE Aviation, Martin-Baker, SELEX, Cobham, Ultra Electronics, UTC Actuation Systems and Rolls-Royce.
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