Lockheed Martin said April 20 that the seventh F-35 flight test aircraft, an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant dubbed AF-2, had that day flown for the first time and would be used to validate the CTOL weapons suite. Company test pilot Jeff Knowles took off in AF-2 around 6 p.m. CDT from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Tex., for a one-hour flight. James Sandstrom, Lockheed’s F-35A program manager, called the first flight “a significant achievement for the F-35 program.” AF-2 is the first F-35 to have the internal GAU-22/A 25-mm gun system, made by General Dynamics, will demonstrate internal and external weapons capability throughout the required flight envelope, according to the company release.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.