AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
Washington: The Joint Strike Fighter fighter was named the F-35 “Lightning II” Friday to evoke similarly named US and British warplanes of the past, the air force chief of staff said Friday. General T. Michael Moseley announced the new name at a ceremony at a Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas where the stealthy, next generation fighter is being built.
He said it was named after the World War II-vintage P-38 Lightning and the Cold War-era British-made Lightning.
The United States and Britain are the major partners in the development of the F-35, which is being built in three variants — one for conventional landings, another for carrier landings and a third for short take offs and vertical landings.
The conventional landing variant of the fighter is scheduled to make its first flight later this year.
The JSF is expected to be the biggest US fighter program ever, eventually replacing a wide array of US and British fighter aircraft.
The Defense Department plans to buy 2,400 of the stealthy multi-role fighters and international sales could account for another 2,000 to 3,500 aircraft.
Britain has invested two billion dollars in the JSF program and plans to buy 150 of the fighters worth 8.6 billion dollars.
In addition to the United States and Britain, eight other countries are involved in the program.
