"That is just the deck," says Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. He provided this response to questions about the dark spot on the U.S. Navy's USS Wasp, the amphibious ship being used for ship integration tests with the F-35B.
There has been much speculation about those dark spots, which are shown in the first photos released by the Joint Strike Fighter Joint Program Office of BF-2 conducting its first landing on the Wasp deck. Some wonder whether the decks of amphibious ships can withstand the hot exhaust from the F-35B. And, some suggest that there could be protective matting placed on the deck of the ship.
However, DellaVedova says that no special matting or coatings have been put down for the F-35B's shipboard trials. The only items added to the deck are sensors that are used to collect test data, he says.
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