X-35C A SUCCESS IN NAVY TESTING.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin has completed its flight testing of its Navy version of the joint strike fighter, company officials said Monday.

The X-35C logged more than 65 flights in a test program that started Dec. 16 at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 and concluded this weekend at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

``The airplane really exceeded our expectations for handling qualities,'' said Lockheed Martin test pilot Joe Sweeney in a telephone news conference.

The testing include more than 100 simulated aircraft carrier approaches and landings.

In the final phase of the simulations, the test team forced errors in the glide slope, speed and line-up to see how quickly the aircraft could make corrections, officials said.

After initial tests in the Antelope Valley, Lockheed Martin sent the aircraft to Patuxent River to see how it performed at sea level and because they wanted to put the aircraft in the hands of Navy testers.

The X-35C will stay at Patuxent River in case it is needed for further testing in later stages of the development of the joint strike fighter.

The end of the testing marks the end of the second of two test phases for Lockheed Martin's joint strike fighter effort. In December, Lockheed Martin completed testing of the X-35A, which tested technologies for the Air Force.

The X-35A was converted into the X-35B aircraft, which will be used to test flying qualities for the Marine Corps. The X-35B, which will be capable of hovering like the Harrier jets, is going through ground testing at Palmdale and will likely fly in early summer, company officials said.

The X-35B will be flight-tested at Edwards, but Lockheed Martin is considering conducting some flights at Patuxent River.

Lockheed Martin is competing against Boeing for the right to develop and produce the joint strike fighter. The Pentagon and the United Kingdom ultimately want to build more than 3,000 aircraft to replace a variety of aging aircraft, including the Air Force's F-16s and A-10s, and to augment the Navy's F-18s.

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Lockheed Martin's X-35C, the Navy version of the company's joint strike fighter, taxis down a runway at Air Force Plant 42.