This week, an F-35B Lightning II fighter jet landed aboard U.K. aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R 09), kicking off developmental test phase 3 (DT-3) sea trials aboard Britain’s largest Warship. 

A test pilot from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NAS Pax River), Maryland, flew the specially instrumented F-35B to the U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier, which got underway Tuesday from Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia. 

The pilot and aircraft join a test team of approximately 200 personnel from the Pax River F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF) embarked for up to four weeks of sea trials off the coast of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. 

Read more