The US Navy (USN) has completed carrier qualification (CQ) trials of the Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the service announced in late March.

Aircraft and pilots from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 125 ‘Rough Raiders’ and VFA 101 ‘Grim Reapers’ performed 140 day and night deck landings aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln(CVN 72) in mid-March.
According to the navy, with the GPS-based Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) or Delta Flight Path (DFP) now proven and CQ having been achieved, operational testing of the F-35C will begin later this year.
Recently, a USN official speaking under the Chatham House Rule told Jane’s and other defence media that this automated landing system is having a tremendous effect on the F-35C’s ease of operations at sea.