ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A pilot was seriously injured when an F-35B fighter jet crashed Tuesday afternoon near New Mexico's Albuquerque International Sunport, authorities said.

The plane was a developmental model of the F-35B fighter jet, which was being delivered by Lockheed Martin, two Defence Department officials said. It had just taken off from Albuquerque and was en route to Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California, the officials said.

A spokesperson for Kirtland Air Force Base, which is located just southeast of Sunport, said in a statement said that an Air Force pilot was "ferrying" the F-35B from the Lockheed Martin facility at Naval Air Reserve Station in Fort Worth, Texas, to Edwards AFB.

The pilot had landed at Kirtland at about 1 p.m. local time to refuel, and had just taken off bound for Edwards AFB when the crash occurred, the Kirtland spokesperson said.

(With Inputs From International Agencies)