The F-35B has the flexibility to deploy from carriers and on amphibious assault ships. Each of the three variants is specific to its domain in the air, land or maritime environment. The Pentagon’s plan directed the purchase of 1,763 of the Air Force F-35A, 353 of the F-35B STOVL version for the US Marine Corps (USMC), and 340 of the Navy’s F-35C variant. The F-35C made its maiden flight from Fort Worth on 6 June 2010, the anniversary of D Day. Development test work has been undertaken at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, by an Integrated Test Team who carried out land-based trials on the arrestor system to ensure the hook engagement worked. The UK was the first allied nation to procure the F-35 selecting the B variant in 2001 as the UK’s Joint Combat Aircraft for both the RAF and Royal Navy.
Today, the Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Australia, Japan and Israel have selected the super jet while others including Turkey aspire to operate the plane. In the US, the F-35 will eventually replace the A-10 Warthog, the F-16, F/A-18 hornet and Super Hornet. In the UK, the aircraft replaced the Royal Navy’s Sea Harrier, the RAF’s GR9 fleet and the Tornado. The decision to procure the F-35B for the Royal Navy marks a return to the fleet’s carrier-borne strike capability for the first time in nearly a decade, following the demise of the Harrier. The Royal Navy delivers its carrier borne naval air power in a capability known as Carrier Enabled Power Projections (CEPP) which provides an integrated and sustainable joint operation to facilitate the UK’s wider armed forces in which RAF and Army rotary aviation assets can operate from the deck.
Designed to operate in the future battle-space where electronic attack, total evasion from radar and the ability to collate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance while executing air-to-air combat will
