JSF office poised to seek approval for delayed schedule
The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme office will this month seek formal approval from the US Department of Defense for the revised, delayed schedule for development of the Lockheed Martin F-35.
A one-year extension to the development programme has already been announced, to allow more time to tackle the aircraft's weight problems, and Northrop Grumman, the first partner to begin assembly operations, says the first F-35 will now fly in August 2006.
Northrop Grumman began assembly of the centre fuselage for the first conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A in mid-May by loading the single-piece fibre-placed composite inlet ducts into the jig at its Palmdale, California plant. Programme manager Steve Briggs says the centre fuselage for aircraft A-1 will be delivered to Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas final-assembly plant for mating in May next year.
At that time, the company will begin assembly of the forward fuselage for the first short take-off and vertical landing F-35B, which is scheduled to fly early in 2007.
Aircraft A-1 and B-1 will not incorporate design changes to reduce weight, which is more than 1,300kg (3,000lb) over target on the STOVL aircraft and around 600kg over on the CTOL JSF and carrier-capable F-35C.
Assembly of the first "optimised" airframes will begin six to eight weeks after the start of work on aircraft B1, says Briggs. The JSF system development and demonstration programme includes 14 flight-test and eight ground-test airframes.
Briggs says a STOVL weight attack team - the SWAT - made up of 500 engineers across the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman/BAE Systems team, is working to reduce the weight by about 900kg. The critical design review, originally scheduled for April, has been pushed into 2005 to give more time for the weight reduction studies. The first flight of the F-35 was originally scheduled for October next year.
Northrop Grumman, meanwhile, has begun rooftop range testing of the JSF's APG-81 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar at its Baltimore, Maryland plant. Flight testing on the company's BAC One-Eleven testbed is to begin early next year, ahead of delivery of the first AESA to Lockheed Martin's mission systems integration lab late in 2005.
GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
