Another day at the office [Image 1 of 7]

PATUXENT RIVER, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES

10.18.2023

Photo by Kyra Helwick 

F-35 Lightning II Pax River ITF   

… when you’re an F-35 Lightning II test pilot and your office is the flight deck of Britain’s biggest warship, HMS Prince of Wales (R09). Flying the F-35B short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the most lethal, survivable, and connected fighter aircraft ever built, Marine Maj. Alex Horne, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), flew several sorties aboard the U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier the afternoon of Oct. 18, 2023. A test team from the Pax River F-35 Integrated Test Force (PAX ITF), F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), is integrated with the ship’s company conducting F-35B flight test as part of developmental test phase 3 (DT-3) flight trials during the ship's deployment to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard for WESTLANT 2023. In addition to the ability to land like a helicopter and take off in a very short distance, the ship’s company, test teams, and F-35B pilots are working closely to conduct testing of shipborne rolling vertical landings (SRVLs).

• Date Taken: 10.18.2023
• Date Posted: 10.19.2023 13:11
• Photo ID: 8080200
• VIRIN: 231018-O-PF253-5616
• Resolution: 3600x2400
• Size: 5.21 MB
• Location: PATUXENT RIVER, MARYLAND, US