Lockheed Martin JSF demonstrator almost ready for first flight

Sea Power, May 2000 by Burgess, Richard R

The Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (SSR team has completed a successful First-Flight Readiness Review for the CTOL (conventional takeoff and landing) X-35A version of the company's JSF concept demonstrator aircraft (CDA), which is being readied for its first flight.

Airframe assembly of the X-35A has been completed at the company's Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, Calif.

The X-35A has been going through fuel-system tests, engine installation, ground-vibration and structuralcoupling tests, auxiliary power unit tests, engine runs, software checks, and taxi tests. After CTOL tests, the X35A will be converted into the X-35B short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) version of the CDA. The STOVL version of the JSF is planned for service in the U.S. Marine Corps and both the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

"We are very pleased with our progress in assembling the X-35A demonstrator aircraft," said Frank J. Cappuccio, vice president and program manager for the Lockheed Martin JSF team. "All of our system checkout tests have progressed well, with good performance across all of the systems. The same can be said for proof loads testing. We anticipate that the flight-test program will meet all expectations."

The second CDA, the X-35C, is scheduled for a series of structural proof tests. The X-35C-scheduled to fly later this year-will be used to demonstrate the suitability of the JSF for aircraft carrier operations.

Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems are teamed with Lockheed for the JSF competition.

In a related development, a SigMA (Signature Measurement Aircraft)-a full-scale model of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) designhas been mounted on a 98-foot-high pylon at the company's Helendale Measurement Facility in Helendale, Calif. The SigMA test plan is designed to measure the radar cross-section of the aircraft, the performance of the aircrafts antennas, and the robustness of the low-observable materials performance. Some doors and panels will be intentionally damaged during the tests in order to determine the impact of defects and the effectiveness of repairs.

"The high level of detail built into the SigMA model is unprecedented for this stage of development," said Henry J. Sherrer, manager of the JSF signature demonstrations. `The SigMA results to date closely match our detailed predictions."