F-35A - Australia

Australia's first F-35 gets airborne

By: ANDREW MCLAUGHLIN

SYDNEY

Source: 

10:33 1 Oct 2014

The Royal Australian Air Force’s first Lockheed Martin F-35A
Lightning II made its debut flight from the manufacturer’s
Fort Worth facility in Texas on 29 September.

Lockheed Martin

The 2h flight of the aircraft – designated AU-1 by Lockheed
and A35-001 by the RAAF – was conducted by company
test pilot Al Norman. Australia's lead aircraft will remain at Fort
Worth alongside its AU-2 stablemate for further testing, before
being delivered to the US Air Force training school at Luke AFB in Arizona in early 2015.

Lockheed Martin

AU-1 and AU-2 were rolled out in late July, and are the first of 72
conventional take-off and landing F-35As currently planned for
the RAAF. Long-lead items for a further 12 F-35As have
already been funded, with these aircraft expected to form part
of the programme's tenth lot of low-rate initial production, for
delivery from 2017. A further 58 aircraft were approved by the
Australian government in April, for delivery between 2017 and
2021.

The RAAF’s first F-35A squadron will be 3 Sqn, which will re-equip
with the jet at Luke AFB in 2018, before returning to Australia to
conduct national-specific operational test and evaluation work.

Initial operational capability is scheduled for the service in 2021,
and full operational capability of three combat and one training
squadrons is planned for late 2023.