Article Posted on : - Mar 12, 2010

F-35B Lightning II Slow Landing. A video grab by Lockheed Martin.

MARYLAND (BNS): The first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter flew at 40 knots (46 mph) prior to a slow landing at 75-knot (86 mph), at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, on Wednesday.

The flight was one of the last missions before the aircraft's first vertical landing.

The flight has confirmed the stealth aircraft's capability at low speeds. The F-35B's short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) propulsion system generates more than 41,000 pounds of vertical thrust, and enables airspeeds from zero to Mach 1.6, according to report by the Lockheed Martin.

The F-35B STOVL variant allows operations from amphibious ships and shore-based expeditionary sites as it deploys close to the battle.

The stealth fighter will be operated by the US Marine Corps, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, and the Italian Air Force and Navy.

The F-35B will be the world's first operational supersonic STOVL aircraft. The aircraft will replace the aging AV-8B Harrier STOVL attack aircrafts of the US Marine Corps, as well as its F/A-18s.