The first F-35A, AA-1, rolls off the Fort Worth assembly line

The first example of the new fighter, the test aircraft AA-1, rolled off the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics assembly line at Fort Worth, Texas. Part fabrication had begun in 2004 and final assembly in May 2005, after the design revision that followed the concept demonstration phase. AA-1 did not yet represent the production configuration: it would serve chiefly to open the flight envelope.