Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II
The short-takeoff, vertical-landing Lightning — a supersonic stealth fighter that hovers · First flight 2008 · In service 2015
The F-35B replaces the Harrier and, for the US Marine Corps, the Hornet. Behind the cockpit sits a Rolls-Royce lift fan driven by a shaft from the F135-PW-600 engine; together with a three-bearing swivelling exhaust nozzle and two roll posts in the wings it lets the jet take off in a short run, hover and land vertically. The price is weight and space: the B carries less internal fuel (about 6.1 tonnes) than the A, has smaller weapons bays, is limited to +7 g and has no internal gun — a GAU-22/A cannon pod can be fitted on the centreline.
Test aircraft BF-1 flew on 11 June 2008, hovered for the first time on 17 March 2010 and made the first vertical landing the next day; sea trials began aboard USS Wasp in October 2011. The Marine Corps declared initial operational capability with VMFA-121 on 31 July 2015, making the F-35B the first version in US service, and VMFA-211 flew the type's first combat missions from USS Essex over Afghanistan in 2018.
The United Kingdom flies a joint RAF–Royal Navy F-35B force, led by No. 617 Squadron and 809 Naval Air Squadron, from the carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales; on the 2021 Carrier Strike Group deployment, 8 RAF and 10 USMC F-35Bs sailed together aboard Queen Elizabeth. Italy operates the B in both its air force and navy (from the carrier Cavour), Japan received its first F-35Bs at Nyutabaru in August 2025 for use from the converted destroyer Kaga, and Singapore has ordered 12.
