Boeing is urging the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme office to advance its limited engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) funding in order to maintain its team of designers ahead of a final selection now scheduled for October 2001.
Final JSF selection has slipped six to seven months from its original April target because of flight test delays. Boeing says it has a "very, very small contingent reserve left" and needs bridge funding to maintain 400 engineers until the next EMD phase, says JSF general manager Frank Statkus.
It has proposed that a portion of the $200 million for the next phase be advanced and that it begin "preparatory" EMD work even though there is no final selection yet. Statkus says Boeing needs "less than $6 million per month", and adds that such a contingency is allowed with notification.
Boeing's call echoes concerns voiced earlier by competitor Lockheed Martin. In June the company's JSF programme manager, Frank Cappuccio, warned that it would need up to $10 million a month to avoid disbanding its JSF team and transferring some of the 850 staff to other programmes. Lockheed Martin declines to give a revised estimate on what it requires. "Our estimate is continually changing and ultimately it's a government decision."
Boeing declines to say what EMD work it would start on, but has no plans to extend flight testing of its two demonstrators, with about 50% of flight test work completed on the first X-32A. It has also finished structural mode interaction testing on the second X-32B short take-off and landing version ahead of a first flight in mid-March.
Lockheed Martin is pushing to extend flight testing of its two X-35 demonstrators beyond that required for final proposal submission. "We're still holding that as an option as our aircraft have such a close resemblance to EMD," it says. Its second X-32C demonstrator was due to make its first flight as Flight International went to press.
Source: Flight International
