The first aircraft in history to combine stealth with short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) capability and supersonic speed has been delivered to the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., where it will conduct its first hovers and vertical landings. The Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II STOVL stealth fighter will replace U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B STOVL fighters, F/A-18 strike fighters and EA-6B electronic attack aircraft, and will also be used by the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force and Royal Navy and the Italian Air Force and Navy.
There are three different models of the F-35. The F-35A is the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant is the smallest and lightest F-35 version and is the only variant equipped with an internal cannon, the GAU-22/A. It is intended for the US Air Force (USAF) and other air forces, but is primarily intended to replace the USAF’s F-16 Fighting Falcon, beginning in 2013, and to replace the A-10 Thunderbolt II starting in 2028. It will be used solely by the US Navy and is expected to be available beginning in 2014.
With the capability to operate from a variety of ships or austere runways, the F-35B is designed to be deployed closer to shore or near front lines, shrinking distance and time to the target, increasing sortie rates and greatly reducing the need for support assets. Its internal fuel capacity of seven tons provides an unfueled range of more than 900 miles without external tanks. The F-35B is the first aircraft in history to combine stealth with STOVL capability and supersonic speed and will be the first of the three Lightning II variants to achieve Initial Operational Capability, beginning with the Marines in 2012.
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