CF-1, the first F-35C strike fighter test aircraft, has arrived at NAS Patuxent River, Md., F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin announced. The C model is optimized for operations from large-deck aircraft carriers. At Pax River, F-35 test officials will employ CF-1 in air-to-air refueling and performance tests. It joins several F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing test aircraft at the Maryland site. CF-1 arrived Nov. 6, completing a journey from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Tex., which is adjacent to Lockheed’s F-35 assembly facility.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
