JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – -- The Joint Base recently hosted the F-35C Lightning II as the U.S. Navy continues its developmental test program on the Lakehurst-side of MDL from Feb 13 – 24.
Assigned to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, naval engineers and personnel from the F-35 Pax River Integrated Test Force temporarily relocate to Lakehurst when their testing relies on the highly specialized aircraft launch and recovery equipment available here or when the Pax River runways undergo routine maintenance, as they did in the spring of 2016.
Safely recovering aircraft ashore and afloat is vital to the U.S. Navy and the state-of-the-art aircraft launch and recovery systems at Lakehurst are representative of the systems aboard the Navy’s aircraft carrier fleet.
“We test [the F-35C Lightning II] on handling the unique environment that comes with carrier landing and launching,” said Cmdr. Daniel Kitts, U.S. Navy test pilot and the F-35C Carrier Suitability lead at Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three. “Partnering with Lakehurst has enabled us to test revolutionary new modes developed to make landing on an aircraft easier, safer, and more repeatable.”
Following shore-based testing at NAS Patuxent River and at Lakehurst in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Pax River ITF test team set sail aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers to conduct developmental in the at-sea environment. All Naval aircraft must undergo three phases of shipboard testing.
“Naval aviators spend so much time practicing launching from and landing on carriers because it’s such a difficult task,” Kitts said. “Testing the Delta Flight Path at Lakehurst has facilitated an incredible technological revolution.”
Another essential piece to the testing is Lakehurst itself, Kitts explained.
“Other than Pax River, the only other place in the world we could even conduct this testing is here at Lakehurst,” Kitts said. “There is an actual set of arresting gear built into the runway here that exactly matches what we have on a carrier.”
In addition to the Mk-7 Mod 3/4 arresting gear system, which can stop a 50,000 pound aircraft in less than 350 feet, and the fixed E-28 shore-based arresting gear system installed on air station runways, parts of the ground on Lakehurst are covered in a non-skid coated metal that is identical to that of the deckplate landing surface of a carrier. Test pilots rely on these shore-based systems and surfaces to be as mission representative as possible as they gauge the stresses that the aircraft may experience during carrier operations.
Now, in the final throes of testing, the team of naval personnel are looking forward to the future of the Lighting II, having already logged 80,000 total flight hours, training nearly 400 pilots and more than 3,700 maintainers, and operating in 13 locations worldwide including Israel and Italy.
“We have an incredible team of engineering and support personnel, and when we execute this testing, we have a visible confirmation of all our hard work,” Kitts said. “It is a tremendous honor and responsibility to be a part of this team and the progression of this aircraft.”