Lockheed Martin believes that its experience in building fighter aircraft, including the F-16, F-117 and F-22, is a key advantage in its bid to win the US Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme.
Confident that it will be one of the two companies that is shortlisted on 7 November, Lockheed Martin says its pedigree experience in this area will be of direct relevance in developing the JSF.
"[Lockheed Martin's] aTactical Aircraft Systems is recognised as the tactical aircraft industry's leader in lean manufacturing, single-engine design and international co-operative programmes," says Lockheed Martin vice-president and JSF programme manager David Wheaton.
"We feel positive about the next phase of the programme, based on our success to date in JSF vehicle design, risk reduction activities and wind tunnel testing."
The company has completed 7,500h of wind tunnel testing on a high-fidelity, small-scale model and 200h of testing on a 91%-scale propulsion model.
That work verified the operational and mechanical integrity of Lockheed Martin's unique shaft-driven lift fan system which will power its short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) JSF variant for the US Marine Corps and Royal Navy.
Wheaton says that the first flight demonstrator that it would build will fly initially as a US Air Force version, then be converted to a US Navy variant for further testing.
The second concept demonstrator would be the USMC/RN STOVL variant.
Wheaton agrees that a major challenge of the JSF is to come up with a configuration that fully meets all four requirements.
Source: Flight Daily News
