Timeline F-35 Lightning II

The single-engine stealth fighter built in three versions — conventional, short take-off/vertical landing and carrier — and the most expensive weapons programme in history.

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Dashed left edge = started before this timeline · Dashed right edge = still ongoing

F-35 Lightning II 13

1996 Joint Strike Fighter finalists chosen Lockheed Martin and Boeing The Pentagon picks Lockheed Martin and Boeing to build demonstrators for one fighter to serve the Air Force, Navy, Marines and allies.
2000 Boeing X-32 first flight The losing design Boeing's X-32, with its distinctive chin intake, flies against Lockheed Martin's X-35.
2000 X-35 first flight Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator Lockheed Martin's X-35A flies in the Joint Strike Fighter competition against Boeing's X-32.
2001 X-35B completes the decisive test Short take-off, supersonic, vertical landing In one flight the X-35B takes off short, goes supersonic and lands vertically — a feat the X-32 could not match.
2001 Lockheed Martin wins the JSF contract X-35 over X-32 The Pentagon selects the X-35 over Boeing's X-32 in what was then the largest defence contract ever awarded.
2006 F-35 Lightning II first flight Fort Worth, Texas The first F-35A, AA-1, flies from Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth plant.
2010 F-35B first vertical landing NAS Patuxent River The short take-off/vertical landing F-35B hovers and lands vertically for the first time at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
2015 F-35 declared operational US Marine Corps F-35B The Marine Corps declares initial operational capability for its F-35Bs, the first service to do so. The Air Force follows in 2016 and the Navy in 2019.
2016 F-35A operational with the US Air Force Hill Air Force Base The US Air Force declares its F-35As ready for combat.
2018 First F-35 combat use Israeli F-35I Adir Israel announces that its F-35I Adir jets have flown combat missions — the first combat use of the F-35 anywhere.
2019 F-35C operational with the US Navy Carrier version The carrier-based F-35C reaches initial operational capability with the US Navy.
2019 Turkey removed from the F-35 programme S-400 dispute The US removes Turkey from the F-35 programme after it buys Russian S-400 air defence missiles.
2023 The missing F-35B South Carolina After its pilot ejects, a Marine Corps F-35B flies on unmanned and vanishes. The military asks the public for help, and the wreck is found the next day.