Lockheed Martin on 11 January delivered the first two F-35B short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variants to Eglin AFB, Florida.
The aircraft, designated BF-6 (pictured below) and BF-8, are the first early production versions of the STOVL variant to arrive at the training base, joining six conventional take-off and landing F-35As.
Last July, US Air Force officials first said that three F-35Bs were scheduled for delivery to Eglin AFB by December 2011 to inaugurate the US Marine Corps' training operations. However, the USAF clarified shortly afterward that only one F-35B would be delivered before January.
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But the two aircraft arrived 11 days after the start of the new year, flying into Eglin at 15:13 and 16:39, respectively.
The aircraft were ordered in 2007 under the second lot of low rate-initial production (LRIP). So far, Lockheed has delivered eight of the 12 aircraft in LRIP-2, plus both aircraft ordered from LRIP-1.
The F-35B remains under a loosely defined probation set last year by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Since that time, the aircraft has resolved three major propulsion system issues, and completed a shipboard landing demonstration on the amphibious carrier the USS Wasp last October.
Source: Flight International
