Maine's senior economic adviser John Butera gets flight instruction in 2012 from Tony Stutts at Lockheed Martin's demonstration of a F-35 fighter jet in a simulator at the Pratt & Whitney factory in North Berwick where the engine components are made.
The cockpit of an F-35 is shown with a simulation demonstrator screen at the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, Maryland. The F-35 Lightning II features a touch-screen instrument panel as well as voice-activated controls.
The fourth U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft arrives at the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in this 2013 photo.
Two F-35 Lightning II planes, also known as Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), arrive at Edwards Air Force Base in California in May 2010.
The largest of the five modules that make up the Pratt & Whitney engine that powers the F-35 is pictured in the hold of the USS Wasp during fighter plane testing off the coast of North Carolina in May 2015. The warplane did well in nearly two weeks of testing on an amphibious warship, the Pentagon said at the time.
A U.S.Marine Corps F-35B joint strike fighter jet conducts maneuvers during aerial refueling training over the Atlantic Ocean in this undated picture released Aug. 20, 2015. The Marine Corps' F-35B model can take off from warships and aircraft carriers and land like a helicopter.
An F-35B Lightning II undergoes ice evaluation testing at the 96th Test Wing's McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in February 2015. The plane is subjected to temperatures as low as minus-40 degrees Fahrenheit to as high as 120 degrees.
The U.S. Marine Corps version of Lockheed Martin's F35 Joint Strike Fighter, F-35B test aircraft flies with external weapons for the first time over the Atlantic test range at Patuxent River Naval Air Systems Command in Maryland on Feb. 22, 2012. The F-35B is the variant of the Joint Strike Fighter for the U.S. Marine Corps, capable of short take-offs and vertical landings for use on amphibious ships or expeditionary airfields.
An F-35 Lightning II releases an inert 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition over the Atlantic Ocean test range near Patuxent River, Maryland, in 2012.
A closeup view of a touch-sensitive display panel in the cockpit of an F-35 demonstrator at National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, Maryland.
With the F-35 represented in many locales, including at Vermont’s Air National Guard base in South Burlington, there’s bipartisan support to sustain the program.
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