The F-35B is one of three variants of the F-35 aircraft and the only one with the ability to land vertically like a helicopter. It can also takeoff in a much shorter space than other fighter jets, which is why it can operate off the Wasp, a warship only half the size of the 100,000-tonne aircraft carriers in the US fleet.
“It really is an historic deployment, bringing this capability of the F-35 and the USS Wasp together to create the most significant increase in our capability the Navy and Marine Corps team has seen in our lifetime,” Rear Adm. Brad Cooper told CNN onboard the Wasp.
With a projected price tag of a trillion dollars over the lifetime of the program, the F-35 fleet is the most expensive weapons system in history.
The F-35 stealth fighters have been sold around the world to countries including the UK, Japan, and Israel.
South Korea has also ordered 40 F-35A stealth fighters, a move which has angered North Korea according to an article on state news agency KCNA published Sunday, which called it a “perilous move against the rare atmosphere of reconciliation”.
