The F-35 strike fighter program surpassed 5,000 flight hours in late November, announced the F-35 program office. All three variants of the stealth fighter—the Air Force’s F-35A, Marine Corps’ F-35B, and Navy’s F-35C—contributed to those flight hours, according to the office’s Nov. 30 release. That includes F-35s, both developmental test aircraft and production airframes, flying from Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Fort Worth, Tex., as well as at Edwards AFB, Calif., Eglin AFB, Fla., and NAS Patuxent River, Md. The first flight of an F-35 occurred in December 2006. Since then, F-35s have flown more than 3,464 times, according to the program office.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
