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Magazine Issue

Aviation Week & Space Technology 2006-12-11

VOL. 165 NO. 23 December 11, 2006

World News & Analysis

article

F-35A To Fly This Week

Dec 11, 2006
Lockheed Martin has tentatively scheduled initial flight of the first production F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for early this week, kicking off a six-year, 12,000-hr. test program involving 15 aircraft in three different configurations. "We are on track to fly and the airplane is performing very well, as expected," says Doug Pearson, vice president of the F-35 Integrated Test Force. As of late last week, technicians were completing installation of flightworthy components in the airplane, replacing units that were approved for ground tests only.