Amy Butler here.
As senior Pentagon
editor, there are
perks to being a
scribe. May 26, I
had the
opportunity to
witness aviation
history with a
small
(
more)
Amy Butler here. As senior Pentagon editor, there are perks to being a scribe. May 26, I had the opportunity to witness aviation history with a small group of reporters invited to the USS Wasp amphibious ship to witness a few hours of the first-ever F-35B Operational Test (OT-1) trails off the coast of North Carolina. I'm posting some of the many videos I collected to give our readers a sense of what we saw on the boat.
During OT-1, actual Marines -- not test overseers -- are operating the six F-35Bs that embarked May 18 for the tests; this includes pilots and maintainers. During DT (developmental testing), we got to see firsthand the first vertical landing and short takeoff at sea, but in OT-1, the Marines are demonstrating a cadence to operations to gain confidence the single-engine, stealthy fighters can assimilate into an air wing onboard the amphibious ship, which will include other platforms: the MV-22, CH-53E/K, AH-W/Z and unmanned air systems among them. This is all leading up to what the operational debut of the F-35B, slated in July.
This is a long video -- 8 plus minutes. But, if you stick with it, here's what you'll see. And, a word of caution. Turn down your speakers or headphones, or grab a cranial. Its very loud.
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