The F-35 may be a lot of dubious things (overpriced, underused, occasionally broken)—but it sure is beautiful. Enjoy the eye candy your tax dollars bought in all its splendor—the F-35 just took its first flight into darkness.
The inaugural evening jaunt was pretty elementary:
The first night flight in the history of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Program was completed Wednesday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Piloted by Lockheed Martin Test Pilot Mark Ward, AF-6, an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, launched at 5:05 p.m. PST and landed after sunset at 6:22 p.m. The mission consisted of a series of straight in approaches in twilight and darkness.
But the F-35, despite being all over military headlines, is still pretty much a trillion dollar beta product. So when it manages to do something that seems simple, that’s an accomplishment. Next stop? Maybe shooting a missile at someone we don’t like, someday.
