LOCKHEED'S JSF SOARS THROUGH 1ST FLIGHT TEST.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Lockheed Martin's first joint strike fighter prototype made its first flight Tuesday, joining a flight test program more than a month after rival Boeing had taken to the skies.

The X-35A took off at 9:06 a.m. from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale and climbed to an altitude of 10,000 feet. Traveling about 300 mph, the jet made a series of figure-eight maneuvers to demonstrate handling qualities and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, company officials said.

``An awesome aircraft,'' Lockheed Martin test pilot Tom Morgenfeld said in a statement. ``The flight was trouble-free from beginning to end, absolutely no surprises.''

The flight included checkouts of on-board systems, handling characteristics and checks of data links with technicians in Palmdale and at Edwards.

The jet is the first of two Lockheed Martin joint strike aircraft that will be flown during a yearlong test program. The A model is configured to demonstrate flying qualities and conventional takeoffs and landings for the Air Force variant. The airplane will later be converted into a new configuration, the X-35B, with a shaft-driven lift fan for short takeoffs and landings, capabilities the Marine Corps and British Royal Navy want.

The second airplane, the X-35C, will be configured to demonstrate carrier landings for the U.S. Navy.

The joint strike fighter is being developed to replace the Air Force's aging F-16s and A-10s, the Marine Corps' AV-8B and F-18C/D, and the United Kingdom's Sea Harrier and GR-7. It also will complement the U.S. Navy's F-18E/F.

Combined, the U.S. military and United Kingdom plan to buy more than 3,000 of the jets. There is a potential for an equal number of foreign sales.

Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Singapore and Turkey have all expressed interest in buying the jet.

Lockheed Martin is competing with Boeing for the production contract for the fighters. The contract to build the joint strike fighters could ultimately be worth $750 billion to $1 trillion, counting foreign sales and providing modifications and support for the aircraft over 20 to 30 years.

Boeing's X-32A made its first flight Sept. 18. The aircraft has made several test flights since then and has logged more than nine hours of flight.

The flight testing will last about a year. The first half of the testing will be done at Edwards, the rest at the Navy's flight test center at Patuxent River, Md.

The Defense Department is looking at three objectives in the testing: commonality in components among the JSF variants; low-speed carrier approach flying and handling qualities; and short takeoff, transition, hover and vertical landing.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: (color in AV edition only) Pilot Tom Morgenfeld tests the joint strike fighter Tuesday during its first flight work.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News