A Lockheed Martin F-35B STOVL variant of the JSF has exceeded the sound barrier for the first time.
The milestone, achieved by development aircraft BF-02 on its 30th flight, saw the aircraft achieve Mach 1.07 at 30,000ft during a sortie from the US Navy’s test facility at Patuxent River near Washington DC. BF-02 is one of four F-35Bs based at Pax River for flight testing.
Two F-35As have already achieved supersonic flight, the first being AA-1 in 2008 before it was retired for battle damage assessment testing.
