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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.
An F-35C assigned to VFA 125 ‘Rough Raiders’ performs a ‘touch and go’ during carrier qualification trials aboard USS Abraham Lincoln .Photo by: US Navy
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.
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