The Navy and Marine Corps team made more remarkable naval aviation history recently as the F-35B joint strike fighter (JSF) test aircraft BF-2 landed safely on USS Wasp’s (LHD-1) flight deck, the first at sea vertical landing for the Marine Corps’ F-35 JSF version.

The landing is part of the initial ship trials for the F-35B. The tests are scheduled to collect data on the aircraft’s ability to perform short take-offs and vertical landings on a ship at sea and determine how the aircraft integrates with the ship’s landing systems, and deck and hangar operations.

This test period, the first of three scheduled at-sea test periods over the course of the development programme, will also collect environmental data on the deck through added instrumentation to measure the F-35B’s impact to flight deck operations.

“The first at sea vertical landing is a huge milestone,” said Marine Corps Colonel Roger Cordell, military site director for F-35 test and evaluation at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. “We’re still early in this test period, and we expect to learn a lot more, but this is a great step toward delivering the capability to the fleet.”

The F-35B is the variant of the joint strike fighter for the US Marine Corps, capable of short take-offs and vertical landings for use on amphibious ships or expeditionary airfields to provide air power to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. The F-35B will replace Marine AV-8B Harriers and F-18 Hornets and is undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River prior to delivery to the fleet.