F-35 exceeds 50,000 flying hours

By Marina Malenic
February 11, 2016

Key Points

• F-35s have accumulated more than 50,000 flight hours
  The 25,000 flight-hour milestone occurred in December 2014, and that number doubled in just more than one year
• Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters operating at 12 international locations have accumulated more than 50,000 flight hours, the company announced on 10 February.

The flight hours fell into two main categories: operational flying hours, flown by 155 jets delivered to six different nations; and System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flight test hours, flown by 18 aircraft assigned to the Integrated Test Forces at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California, and Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Maryland, according to a 10 February press statement released by the company. Operational jets flew approximately 37,950 hours while SDD aircraft flew 12,050 hours, according to Lockheed Martin. More than one third of the programme’s flight hours were flown in 2015. Approximately 26,000 hours were flown by the F-35A, 18,000 hours by the F-35B, and 6,000 by the F-35C.

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