Lockheed Martin (LM) announced on 24 July that the F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft fleet recently exceeded 100,000 flight hours while the F-35 Integrated Test Force teams are completing the remaining requirements in the program's System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase.  

The company's Executive Vice President and F-35 Program General Manager Jeff Babione said “We are well positioned to complete air vehicle full 3F and mission systems software development by the end of 2017.” According to LM's press release, the remaining development flight testing includes validating the final release of 3F software, F-35B ski jump testing, F-35B austere site operations, high-Mach Loads testing for both the F-35B and F-35C and completion of the remaining weapons delivery accuracy tests.