Lockheed Martin, teamed with British Aerospace and Northrop Grumman, has achieved a major assembly milestone on the team's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme. The team's X-35A concept demonstrator aircraft has moved from assembly tooling to the factory floor at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California.
The move signals the completion of the major assembly of the structure, aircraft systems and avionics installations. Final assembly activities will now proceed and include the installation of control surfaces, actuated doors and the landing gear. System checkouts on the X-35A are also under way, leading to engine installation and engine ground runs early next year.
The major contribution British Aerospace brings to the team as a whole is its knowledge and 40 years of experience in STOVL (Short Take-off and Vertical Landing) and its close association with and complete understanding of the United Kingdom's military operational concepts and deployment practices. The Company also brings a considerable knowledge of the US Navy and Marine Corps through the Harrier and T-45 aircraft programmes. The Company has a small team working at the Skunk Works on airframe design and manufacturing, aerodynamics, flight controls and flight test.
For the X35-A British Aerospace has supplied, from its site at Samlesbury in Lancashire UK, high technology components including a complex high speed machined wing root fairing and a superplastically formed titanium assembly. In addition, aerodynamic and thermal acoustic testing of an X-35A scale model has been carried out using the unique facilities at the Company's Warton (Lancashire) and Brough (Humberside) sites.
"The lessons learned in design and assembly of the two concept demonstrator aircraft, plus the lean manufacturing demonstrations being performed in parallel by each of our team members in Britain and the U.S., will ensure we have an affordable, low-risk design going into Engineering and Manufacturing Development," said Frank J. Cappuccio, vice president and program manager of the Anglo-American JSF team.
In the USA, extensive system testing has been accomplished on the X-35A, including power-on testing of the main electrical distribution system, cockpit avionics displays, and vehicle management computers that provide the flight control capability and other flight critical software functions. Software development testing is also on track for flight test next year, with final verification testing now under way.
The X-35A initially will be used to demonstrate engine compatibility and flying qualities for the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) version of the JSF for the U.S. Air Force. The aircraft will then be reconfigured to the X-35B variant with installation of the shaft-driven lift fan for demonstration of performance and flying qualities of the STOVL mode for the U.S. Marine Corps and the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The lift fan inlet and engine auxiliary inlet are already in place on the X-35A, which will facilitate rapid conversion to the X-35B STOVL configuration.
The second demonstrator aircraft, the X-35C for the U.S. Navy, is also in the assembly phase. Installation of the wing carry-through and forward fuselage segments in the assembly tool are complete. System installations and final mate will occur in October, and the X-35C will join the X-35A in system check-out tests before year-end. The X-35C is characterized by larger wing and tail surfaces than the X-35A to provide superior flying qualities in slow-speed flight associated with Navy shipboard operations.
Lockheed Martin received one of two JSF Concept Demonstration contracts awarded by the Department of Defense in November 1996. Flight evaluation of the demonstrator aircraft is scheduled to take place in 2000, with government selection of a single contractor for Engineering and Manufacturing Development set for 2001.
