Article Posted on : - Apr 24, 2012

A Lockheed photo.

FORT WORTH (BNS): Two F-35 Joint Strike Fighters have completed first formation flight at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, last week.

The carrier variant of the fifth-generation stealth fighters, one piloted by a US Navy pilot and another by a US Marine Corps pilot, flew together for over an hour.

The mission tested flying qualities of the aircraft while taking off, landing and flying in formation, Lockheed Martin said.

The F-35 is a fifth-generation multi-role stealth combat aircraft capable of performing close air support, tactical bombing and air defence missions. It is being designed to replace the existing fleet of fighter aircraft of nine partnering countries.

US defence major Lockheed Martin is building the fighter jet with its main industrial partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems.