JSF MAKES MAIDEN FLIGHT AIRCRAFT'S VOYAGE IN TEXAS WENT ``BEAUTIFULLY,'' TEST PILOT SAYS.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- The F-35 joint strike fighter, a plane with a strong Antelope Valley connection, made its maiden flight Friday, performing ``beautifully.''

The F-35 Lightening II took off at 10:44 a.m., Pacific Standard Time, from Lockheed Martin's plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and flew for 35 minutes. After takeoff, chief test pilot Jon Beesley took the jet to an altitude of 15,000 feet and performed a series of maneuvers to test the aircraft's handling and the operation of its engine and subsystems.

``The Lightning II performed beautifully,'' Beesley said. ``What a great start for the flight-test program, and a testimony to the people who have worked so hard to make this happen.''

The only hiccup the F-35 team reported was a calibration error with a data probe that provides airspeed and altitude information. There are redundant systems that provide that information.

``The airplane did just marvelous,'' Beesley said. ``The airplane flew as we thought it would.''

The F-35 is intended to replace a number of fighter jets and attack aircraft, including the Air Force's A-10s and F-16s, the Navy's F/A-18s, the Marine Corps' AV-8B Harriers, and the United Kingdom's Harrier aircraft.

The F-35 is being developed by an international contractor-government partnership consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.

Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and general manager of F-35 program integration, said that when the jet lifted off, it triggered several calls to his cell phone from the program's international partners.

``It was the flight heard around the world,'' Burbage said.

While the F-35 is assembled by Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, major components of the airplanes are assembled by Northrop Grumman in Palmdale, and parts are fabricated at Lockheed Martin's Palmdale plant.

Northrop Grumman's Palmdale plant is expected to employ several hundred workers over the course of the airplane's production run.

In addition to the manufacturing jobs, approximately 1,000 workers will be involved in the flight test program at Edwards Air Force Base.

Doug Pearson, a former Edwards commander who is overseeing the program's flight test work for Lockheed Martin, said the airplane will stay at Fort Worth for the next 18 months. The airplane will be delivered to Edwards in mid-2008.

The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, and the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, plan to acquire a total of 2,581 F-35s. Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway also are partners in the program and are expected to add about 700 more aircraft to the total, according to Lockheed Martin.

F-35 sales to other international customers could push the final number of aircraft to 4,500 or beyond, company officials said.

The jet will be built in a conventional version for the Air Force, as well as in a version equipped to land on Navy carriers and one for the Marine Corps that will take off on shortened runways and land vertically.

Lockheed Martin and its partners are building 15 flight test aircraft, as well as seven airframes for structural tests and a full-size model for radar tests of the jet's stealthiness, under a $25.7 billion development contract awarded in 2001.

The first jet and five flight-test aircraft built in the conventional takeoff-and-landing versions will come to Edwards. The other nine flight-test aircraft will be carrier and short-takeoff versions that will be tested by the Navy and the Marine Corps in Maryland.

james.skeen(at)dailynews

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The joint strike fighter takes off on its first flight in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday.

L.M. Otero/Associated Press