F-35 marks 500th vertical landing

A Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing aircraft, BF-1, completed its 500th vertical landing August 3. It's the same plane that marked the variant's first vertical landing in March 2010 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Next week Developmental Test 2 (DT-2) sea trials are scheduled to begin onboard the USS Wasp. DT-2 is the second of three planned tests aimed at defining and expanding the F-35B's shipboard operating envelope for the U.S. Marine Corps. The first shipboard testing phase was successfully completed in October 2011, when an F-35 successfully completed an at-sea landing. The successful completion of the upcoming Sea Trials is key to declaring F-35 Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for the U.S. Marine Corps in 2015. (Source: Lockheed Martin, 08/06/13) Previous: F-35 makes at-sea landing; Wasp concludes JSF testing