The nature and tempo of work on Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is changing, as the programme moves from engineering development to aircraft production. All four major subassemblies of the first F-35 have now been joined at Fort Worth, Texas, and parts fabrication is under way for the second aircraft.
Three versions of the F-35 are planned: a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, a short-takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant and an aircraft carrier (cv) variant.
"While development work continues on the F-35, technical issues now have been largely settled and we are placing added emphasis on entering into produce-and-sustain agreements with our JSF partner countries," says Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin executive vice-president and general manager of F-35 JSF Programme Integration. "We are also sharpening our focus on meeting our proposed low-rate initial production commitments and on ensuring that the production of our test aircraft proceeds smoothly."
Funding
Low-rate initial production of operational F-35s commences in 2007.The JSF programme partners are the United States, the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. Each country is involved in the funding and development of the aircraft system.
"Assimilating the requirements and needs of all JSF programme partners is hard work, but it's ultimately rewarding because of the great leaps in efficiency and effectiveness the F-35 will bring to everyone involved," Burbage said.
Brig Gen CR Davis, deputy programme executive officer for the JSF, predicted that the F-35's next-generation systems and performance would change the face of air combat worldwide.
"The capabilities of the JSF will really force US and allied services to rethink how they will use fighter aircraft in future conflicts. Direct comparison of the F-35 to legacy aircraft simply falls well short of providing accurate capability assessments. Future concepts of operations will change in ways we can only begin to imagine."
Citing one example, Davis noted the capability for interoperable coalition warfare that the F-35 will bring to all partner nations. Many of the unique F-35 systems that will provide these capabilities are well beyond the design stage and are up and running in laboratories across the world. In addition, the first F-35 is proving that the time requirements for many mating and assembly steps were overestimated.
"Bottom line - we are well on our way to making the transition from development to production," Davis said. The first F-35, currently being assembled at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, is scheduled for its first flight in the third quarter of 2006. A total of 15 flight-test aircraft, seven ground-test articles and one pole model for radar-signature testing will be built during the current System Development and Demonstration phase of the programme.
Three versions of the F-35 are planned: a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, a short-takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant and an aircraft carrier (cv) variant.
"While development work continues on the F-35, technical issues now have been largely settled and we are placing added emphasis on entering into produce-and-sustain agreements with our JSF partner countries," says Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin executive vice-president and general manager of F-35 JSF Programme Integration. "We are also sharpening our focus on meeting our proposed low-rate initial production commitments and on ensuring that the production of our test aircraft proceeds smoothly."
Funding
Low-rate initial production of operational F-35s commences in 2007.The JSF programme partners are the United States, the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. Each country is involved in the funding and development of the aircraft system.
"Assimilating the requirements and needs of all JSF programme partners is hard work, but it's ultimately rewarding because of the great leaps in efficiency and effectiveness the F-35 will bring to everyone involved," Burbage said.
Brig Gen CR Davis, deputy programme executive officer for the JSF, predicted that the F-35's next-generation systems and performance would change the face of air combat worldwide.
"The capabilities of the JSF will really force US and allied services to rethink how they will use fighter aircraft in future conflicts. Direct comparison of the F-35 to legacy aircraft simply falls well short of providing accurate capability assessments. Future concepts of operations will change in ways we can only begin to imagine."
Citing one example, Davis noted the capability for interoperable coalition warfare that the F-35 will bring to all partner nations. Many of the unique F-35 systems that will provide these capabilities are well beyond the design stage and are up and running in laboratories across the world. In addition, the first F-35 is proving that the time requirements for many mating and assembly steps were overestimated.
"Bottom line - we are well on our way to making the transition from development to production," Davis said. The first F-35, currently being assembled at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, is scheduled for its first flight in the third quarter of 2006. A total of 15 flight-test aircraft, seven ground-test articles and one pole model for radar-signature testing will be built during the current System Development and Demonstration phase of the programme.
Source: Flight Daily News
