To be certified for full-rate production, the F-35 be demonstrated that it can be decontaminated from chemical and biological weapons exposure. A group of engineers at Edwards Air Force Base is now about to do that.
The 461st Flight Test Squadron’s F-35A, tail number AF-04, will be contaminated several times starting the end of August and towed into the decontamination facility to see if it can be cleaned of chemical or biological weapons exposure. AF-04 is a highly-instrumented F-35 test jet with modifications to specifically collect data while being tested in the air or on the ground.