F-35C completes second at-sea trials on board US Navy aircraft carrier

摘要

The US Navy's (USN's) Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning Ⅱ Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) completed its second round of flight tests on board a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier on 9 October during at-sea trials off the coast of Virginia. Two F-35Cs from the 'Salty Dogs' Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 operated from USS Dwight D Eisenhower (C VN 69) as part of a two-week series of developmental tests (DT). Marking the second time the carrier-based fighter has conducted at-sea trials, the F-35Cs conducted full afterburner catapult launches and also flew with internal weapons bay stores during the tests, known as DT-Ⅱ. Test pilots were able to fly with the new F-35 helmet, known as Gen Ⅲ, which incorporated improvements over the previous-generation head gear.