ECHOING PAST ERA OF HISTORIC FIGHTERS LIGHTNING II OFFICIAL NAME FOR F-35.Byline: Daily News FORT WORTH, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas, 18th-largest city in the United States[1], and voted one of "America’s Most Livable Communities. -- Lockheed Martin's F-35 joint strike fighter was officially named Lightning II in a ceremony held at the company's Fort Worth, Texas, plant. The name echoes those of two historic fighters: Lockheed's World War II P-38 Lightning and the mid-1950s Lightning supersonic jet, built by English Electric. ``The F-35 Lightning II The F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable military strike fighter, a multi-role aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air-to-air combat. The F-35 is descended from the X-35 of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. will carry on the legacy of two of the greatest and most capable fighter aircraft of all time,'' said Ralph D. Heath, president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. Attendees at the event included U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley Teed Michael Moseley, KBE[1], is the current Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He assumed the position during a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base on September 2, 2005. , who announced the F-35's new name. Also in attendance were U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison Kathyrn Ann Bailey Hutchison, usually known as Kay Bailey Hutchison (born July 22 1943), is the senior United States Senator from Texas. She is a member of the Republican Party. and John Cornyn of Texas, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, and representatives from the eight nations that are partnering with the U.S. in the F-35's development: the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. English Electric, maker of the Lightning jet, later became BAE Systems, a principal industrial partner on the JSF (JavaServerFaces) A standard framework of components for building rich user interfaces for Java applications. JavaServer Faces run on the server, but are displayed on the client. JSF - JavaServer Faces program. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Work on the plane is done in Palmdale by both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman employees. The inaugural flight of the first F-35, a preproduction pre·pro·duc·tion adj. 1. Taking place or existing before production: preproduction planning. 2. conventional takeoff and landing variant, is planned for later this year from Fort Worth. The plane will then go to Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. for testing. Fifteen F-35s will undergo flight testing, seven will be used for static testing and another will validate the aircraft's radar signature. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Lockheed Martin's F-35 joint strike fighter was officially named Lighting II in a ceremony held at the company's Forth Worth, Texas, plant. |
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