The 5th Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Short Take Off/Vertical Landing (STOVL) flight test aircraft was delivered to the Marine Corps arrives at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Maryland, Saturday, July 16.

Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew the short takeoff/vertical landing aircraft, designated BF-5, for the 3.5 hour flight from NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base in Texas.

BF-5 is the 7th F-35 to be delivered in 2011 and the 3rd aircraft delivered to NAS Patuxent River this year.

Lockheed Martin also received an $85 million contract to continue its operations and maintenance support to 5 U.S. Navy ocean surveillance ships as part of the service's antisubmarine warfare mission. The competitive one-year contract includes four additional one-year options.

The Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System program provides sustainment and logistics management for all installed antisubmarine warfare mission systems, including passive and active surveillance equipment and computer network systems.

"The antisubmarine warfare mission is of significant importance to the Navy," said Carey Smith, Vice President of technical services in Lockheed Martin's Global Training and Logistics business. "The equipment we maintain is vital to that mission, whenever and wherever these ships may be."

Operated by the Navy's Military Sealift Command, the ships and their crews conduct training and missions worldwide. Maintenance is primarily performed at Commander Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan. Other locations include the United Kingdom and Virginia Beach, Virginia.