FIRST F-35 TO RECEIVE TR-3 UPGRADE TAKES FLIGHT

摘要

A DEVELOPMENTAL test team from the USAF's 461st Flight Test Squadron (FLTS) 'Deadly Jesters' conducted the first flight of an F-35A Lightning II in the fifth-generation fighter's new Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) configuration at Edwards AFB in California on January 6. Piloted by Maj Ryan 'BOLO' Luersen, an experimental test pilot with the USAF, the Lightning II used in this highly anticipated test flight-serial 07-0745 'ED' (c/n AF-07), the second F-35A to be built in serial production - is a specially instrumented flight test aircraft and was the first to receive the TR-3 upgrades. During the 50-minute test flight, 'BOLO' departed Edwards and flew the F-35A at near-supersonic speed to 35,000ft above the Mojave Desert, before executing a functional check flight profile to verify the aircraft's airworthiness and system stability.