Fort Worth Delivers Lockheed Martin's 500th F-35 Fighter Jet

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office delivered the 500th F-35.

The 500th F-35 delivered by Lockheed Martin takes flight from the company's Fort Worth factory.

The multi-role fighter will be delivered to the Air National Guard in Burlington, Vermont.

The 500 hundred F-35s include 354 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variants, 108 F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variants and 38 F-35C carrier (CV) variants for the U.S. and international customers, the company said in a news release Tuesday.

In February, the F-35 enterprise surpassed 250,000 flight hours.

Those hours include all F-35s in the fleet comprised of developmental test jets, training, operational, U.S. and international aircraft.

"These milestones are a testament to the talent and dedication of the joint government, military and industry teams," said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin, vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. "The F-35 is delivering an unprecedented 5th Generation combat capability to the warfighter at the cost of a 4th Generation legacy aircraft."

The F-35 operates from 23 military bases worldwide.

More than 985 pilots and over 8,890 maintainers are trained.

Nine nations use the F-35 from their home soil, eight services have declared Initial Operating Capability and four services have employed F-35s in combat operations.