Lockheed test-fires F-35B engine

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 1 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin test-fired the engine for its F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for the first time.

The company said in a statement Friday the test was carried out at Fort Worth, Texas, on April 18 to inaugurate a last set of ground tests before the aircraft's first flight.

In two tests at full military power but without any afterburner, the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine -- generating 28,000 pounds of thrust in military power and 40,000 pounds of thrust in afterburner -- was checked out for almost 60 minutes of run time at different power settings, Lockheed Martin said.

The engine runs came after Lockheed Martin checked out the F-35B's Integrated Power Package that operates as the aircraft's starter, generator, environmental -- air conditioning -- system and emergency power system, the company said.

"The F-35B continues to hit one milestone after the other, and the team is doing a great job of keeping us on track for the airplane's first flight in the late May/June time frame," said Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager.

The April 18 checkouts also covered the opening and closing of all doors in the short take-off and vertical landing propulsion system, the company said.