Article Posted on : - Mar 23, 2009

US DoD photo

NEW YORK (BNS): Maj. Joseph O D Bachmann became the first Marine to fly the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet, which is slated to become part of the Corps’ aviation arsenal by 2012. Bachmann took off for the test flight on Thursday from the flight line at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics plant.

Immediately after landing, Bachmann said: “Mission accomplished”. He said that it was amazingly easy to fly, it was surreal and it was badass. Bachmann said that the purpose of the flight was to acquire experience and become familiar with the aircraft and detect any flaws, especially in the short take-off and vertical landing version of the aircraft.
Officials said that the F-35 is a single-engine, single-passenger, multi-role, stealth-capable, fifth generation supersonic strike fighter aircraft that was developed by Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter Programme. The company is producing three variants of the aircraft, it said.

Senior officials of the company said that Bachmann took off with the F-35A, the conventional take-off and landing variant. “The Marine Corps is slated to field the F-35B, which is the short take-off and vertical landing variant of the fighter jet. Thus, the aircraft will become the Corps’ primary aircraft fighter and will replace the Navy and Marine Corps’ F/A-18 Hornet and the Corps’ AV-8B Harrier II. It will also replace the Navy and Marine’s EA-6B Prowler, an electronic warfare aircraft,” the company said.

Officials went on to add that the F-35A variant is also slated to replace the Air Force’s F-16 Fighting Falcon and A-10 Thunderbold II. The F-35C, the carrier variant, will go to the Navy.

Praising the aircraft, Bachmann said the F-35 can do everything these three Marine Corps legacy fighter jets can do, ‘but better and cheaper.’ He said that one of the F-35’s best of many capabilities is stealth. Officials said that for the first time the Corps will have a stealth aircraft, which will help the Marines adapt to new war fighting tactics.

The F-35B is the world’s first supersonic and radar-evading stealth aircraft with short take-off and vertical landing capabilities. The aircraft can operate from a variety of ships, roads and austere bases, officials said.

But, Bachmann, a native of Topeka, Kansas said that when the F-35 gets fielded, the rest of the world can’t turn a blind eye to US force being stealth. “The enemy won’t ever know we’re coming. It’s awesome,” Bachmann said, adding that the F-35 is going to be easier to fly and fix. “It is more user-friendly to fix. So, the lance corporal whose job it is to fix the airplane will spend less time doing that,” he said.

With the use of F-35, operation costs are also pegged. Lockheed Martin feels the F-35B will provide unequaled multi-mission capability with a fraction of the support required by other fighter jets.

Meanwhile, Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt. Gen. George Trautman said that this aircraft and its game-changing capabilities are going to offer Marine and joint force commanders on the front lines the most affordable and technologically-advanced fifth-generation aircraft in the world.

Bachmann and his colleagues and civilian test pilots will continue to fly and use the simulator version of the aircraft until they feel it is perfect and ready to be fielded. Officials said that they are currently working alongside Lockheed Martin engineers to make necessary adjustments as production progresses.

“I better work really hard right now to make sure all things are done right so when it goes out, it is perfect. Anything but perfect is failure. It needs to be perfect,” Bachmann said.