An F-35C aircraft performs an arrested landing aboard the Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) John F. Kennedy, the next aircraft carrier to enter service with the US Navy. This landing was the first landing of any F-35 aboard any Ford-class aircraft carrier. (US Navy/Mass Communication Spc. Seaman Kaitlyn Bailey)

America’s Next Aircraft Carrier Is Now Flying F-35s

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Despite their many technological innovations, America’s Ford-class supercarriers have been unable to support operations with the F-35 fighter jet—until now. 

The United States Navy’s Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the next aircraft carrier scheduled to enter service, remains on track for its official handover in March 2027. Until that commissioning takes place, 

On Tuesday, the service confirmed it reached a new milestone, completing the first arrested landing of an F-35C Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter on the aircraft carrier’s flight deck. The Navy also noted that the landing marked the “first time an F-35C” had landed on a Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier. (The USS Gerald R. Ford, the JFK’s predecessor and the first carrier in the........

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