Present at Le Bourget in the shape of a full-sized mock-up of the F-35B STOVL version, Lockheed's Joint Strike Fighter is making steady progress towards production.
The first production F-35A CTOL aircraft is now structurally complete from nose to tailcone, with the forward and centre fuselage having been mated on 16 May, the wing added on 16 May and the rear fuselage joined to the centre on 9 June. This will lead to a roll out on 8 July 2006, and a first flight in September or October.
PowerPoint
The aircraft is "no longer a PowerPoint fighter" says Lockheed's Tom Burbage, executive VP and general manager for F-35 JSF programme integration.
Lockheed claims the JSF and F/A-22 Raptor are the only fifth-generation fighters, claiming their advanced integrated avionics, 360 situational awareness, stealth and 'interoperability' set them apart from fourth-generation jets such as Dassault Rafale and Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Lockheed Martin claims 'legacy systems' are ageing rapidly, are too expensive to maintain, and will no longer survive the threat facing them. By contrast, the company claims that JSF is affordable, survivable, lethal, supportable and internationally interoperable.
The F-35 is certainly advanced and highly capable, with its internal weapons bays allowing the carriage of two or four precision guided munitions, or 'smart bombs' (PGMs) on 'first day of the war' type missions requiring Stealth. The aircraft also has an advanced active electronically scanned array radar providing day and night adverse weather precision attack capability, and has Link 16 and SATCOM for maximum global interoperability. The aircraft also has a highly integrated suite of sensors.
Source: Flight Daily News
