F-35 jet gains head box assembly, returns to Edwards Air Force Base

EDWARDS AFB, Calif., 11 Feb. 2012. The Integrated Test Force Team at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) received and installed the first properly packed parachute head box assembly for the ejection seat onboard the AF-1, an F-35 Lightning II aircraft. AF-1 resumed flying after the F-35 head box assembly, from Martin Baker Aircraft Corp., was installed.

Three more head box assemblies containing properly packed parachutes are to be received and installed during the weekend, enabling more aircraft to return to flight at Edwards early next week. More head boxes should are expected and marked for installation in the remaining jets at Edwards AFB, nine jets at Eglin AFB, Fla., and jets in assembly at the F-35 Production Plant at Ft. Worth, Texas.