Goodrich has shipped the first conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) nose gear for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. The company will soon ship the main gear for the fighter.
The CTOL landing gear ships out of Goodrich's Cleveland, Ohio facility, where it was assembled after being designed by Goodrich engineers based in Fort Worth, and Cleveland.
Goodrich's Actuation Systems team, in Wolverhampton, central England, provides the downlock and retract actuators for the landing gear system, and the wiring harnesses are provided by Goodrich's Lighting Systems team in Oldsmar, Florida.
The company is also responsible for the design, manufacture and test of a new landing system, for the Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing (STOVL) and the Carrier Variant (CV) of the aircraft. The 10 per cent weight reduction achieved in the STOVL landing gear system earned Goodrich a Certificate of Appreciation from Lockheed-Martin Aeronautics.
John Grisik, President of Goodrich's Airframe Systems division says: "We are honoured to receive this award from Lockheed-Martin. They have recognised us for a true team effort in reducing the weight of our system and for our overall proactive approach to the programme. Working in close coordination with Lockheed-Martin, our team was able to remove approximately 10% of the weight on the STOVL landing gear. It's quite an accomplishment, and we're proud of the results."
Source: Flight Daily News
