The F-35 program has accomplished the final developmental test flight of the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase of the program, announced on 12 April. The completion of developmental flight test program came 11 years after the first flight of AA-1 in 2006. Since then, F-35 flight test programme has conducted more than 9,200 sorties spanning over 17,000 hours. During this time, it has executed more than 65,000 test points to verify the design, durability, software, sensors, weapons capability, and performance for all three F-35 variants. The test team performed more than 1,500 vertical landing tests on the F-35B variant. The final SDD flight occurred on 11 April at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland when Navy test aircraft CF-2 completed a mission to collect loads data while carrying external 2,000-pound GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and AIM-9X Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles. 

While SDD required flight test is now complete, F-35 flight testing continues in support of phased capability improvements and modernization of the F-35 air system.