A Royal Air Force
officer has become the first UK pilot to take to the skies in a
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, known in the UK as the Joint
Strike Fighter (JSF). The aircraft is equipped with the most
powerful and comprehensive sensor suite of any fighter in history.
Squadron Leader Steve Long flew at 20,000 feet over Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, where he has been based with VX-23 US Navy
Test Squadron since May 2008.
Squadron Leader Steve Long said:
“Flying the JSF was exactly like the simulators that
I've been flying for over 18 months now, which gives you
a lot of confidence in all the modelling and simulation work that
has been done in all the other areas of flying.”
“This aircraft gives the RAF and Navy a quantum leap in airborne
capability. A pilot in this aircraft will have an unprecedented
level of situational awareness about what’s going on in the
airspace and on the battlefield or ocean below because of its
highly advanced sensors. This aircraft will plug into coalition
battlefield networks and be able to pass that picture on to all
other players.”
Steve, 38, from Ifold near Guildford in West Sussex, joined the
RAF in 1995. His operational experience has included more than 100
sorties over Kosovo and Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Iraq, including
three months aboard HMS Illustrious and seven months on the USS
Bonhomme Richard.
Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Quentin Davies, said:
“This is an exciting moment for us all. Steve is a very lucky
man. He is the first of many generations of RAF pilots, selected
and trained to the highest standards, who will be flying this
aircraft over the next 30 years providing this country with the
very best available capability in combat strike”.
Notes to Editors
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2. The JSF is a 5 th generation fighter, combining advanced
stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor
information, network-enabled operations, advanced sustainment, and
lower operational and support costs. Lockheed Martin is developing
the JSF with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman
and BAE Systems. Two separate, interchangeable JSF engines are
under development: the Pratt & Whitney F135 and the GE
Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136.
3. With the capability to operate from a variety of ships or
austere runways, the JSF can deploy closer to shore or near front
lines, shrinking distance and time to the target, increasing
sortie rates and greatly reducing the need for support assets. The
aircrafts sensor suite is the most powerful and comprehensive of
any fighter in history, and will combine with an unprecedented
networking capability to give unparalleled situational awareness.
4. For further information please contact:
Squadron Leader Al Green
MoD Press Office
020 72181534 or mobile 07919 305864
DMC-NewsSO2RAF@mod.uk
or
Lesley Woods
RAF Public Relations
HQ Air Command
01494 496131
lesley.woods428@mod.uk
Contacts:
Ministry of Defence
NDS.MOD@coi.gsi.gov.uk