Lockheed: Lift Fan Used For First Time In JSF STOVL Test Flight

After months of anticipation and setbacks, the Marine Corps' short-
take-off, vertical-landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter flew today while engaging the aircraft's lift fan for the
first time, according to manufacturer Lockheed Martin. F-35 Lead STOVL
Pilot Graham Tomlinson of BAE Systems flew the aircraft to 5,000 feet
and engaged the shaft-driven lift fan propulsion system at 210 knots,
then slowed to 180 knots with the system still engaged before
accelerating to 210 knots and converting to conventional-flight mode,
according to a Lockheed press release. The propulsion system was
engaged for a total of 14 minutes. The test occurred at Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, MD, where the aircraft has been stationed
since last month.
STOVL-mode flights will continue with the aircraft flying
progressively slower until it attempts a full vertical landing. The
JSF program had hoped to fly the aircraft in STOVL mode last summer,
but
technical problems, poor weather and other setbacks have pushed it to
the
first part of this year.