Tri-Service
UK F-35Bs "On Schedule" To Enter Service In 2018
The jump jets for Britain's new aircraft carriers are on schedule to enter service in 2018, according to a written parliamentary statement by the Minister for Defence Procurement.
Philip Dunne also announced that shipborne landing tests of the F-35B Lightning II fighter began from a mock up of the ski ramp on the new carriers in the US in 2015, with 20 test launches having taken place by the end of the year.
He added that the programme of test launches from the land-based ramp is scheduled to be completed in late 2017, with shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) testing to begin on HMS Queen Elizabeth from the following year.
Click above, meanwhile, to take a look at the US Air Force's newest fighter.
While it isn't the jump jet version we'll see on Britain's aircraft carriers, the performance in the air and the stealth technology are the same.
The 419th Fighter Wing's first F-35 pilot, Major Jayson Rickard, tells us how it compares to existing aircraft.
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