Navy Tests Its Version of F-35 Fighter on Aircraft Carrier

The US military is testing the new F-35 Lightning strike fighter’s performance aboard an aircraft carrier for a second time. This video shows an F-35C, the US Navy’s version, which can take off vertically and from short runways, making landings on the USS Eisenhower’s flight deck. Two aircraft will be aboard the carrier for two weeks, their performance tested on catapult takeoffs from the flight deck and landings using an arrestor hook.

A Defense Department spokesman said the aircraft landed without difficulty aboard the Eisenhower, off the Atlantic Coast from the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, despite the presence of Hurricane Joaquin to the south.

Test results will be reported back to the Pentagon and the manufacturers, with the goal of deploying F-35C aircraft in 2018. Credit: YouTube/DVIDS