About time... :-)

[rattler]

Waited for this a long time:

A Joint Strike Fighter took off today for the first time with a U.S. Marine at the controls.

Maj. Joseph Bachmann, a Marine test pilot, flew an F-35A for an hour and 20 minutes from a Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The F-35 is supposed to enter operational service with the Marines in 2012.

The flight, Bachmann said, "was badass."

According to Bachmann, "The airplane literally leapt off the ground – it didn’t need much coaxing. All the maneuvers I asked it to do, it more than met."

The plane he flew is not the aircraft the Marine Corps wants to acquire, though. The service plans on acquiring the F-35B, a short takeoff and vertical landing variant of the aircraft that will eventually replace F/A-18 Hornet, AV-8B Harrier II and EA-6B Prowler. Bachmann is part of the test team that will do the work to get to the first "hover" of the F-35B.

Rattler

[Ancient Mariner]

Oh yeah, I so look forward to the bill for these "badass" field darts. If I'm lucky they want be able to deliver in my life time.
Per