Messier Dowty gear flown on X-32 CDA

Sea Power, Jun 2001

The landing gear designed for the full-scale Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) design proposed by Boeing is being evaluated on the company's X-32 JSF concept demonstration aircraft (CDA). Messier Dowty, one of the leading landing gear manufacturers in the aerospace industry, has been actively testing developmental prototypes of the landing gear on the X-32 in order to reduce risk during the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the JSF program.

The landing gears proposed for the different versions of the JSF are designed to routinely withstand landing descents (measured in fps-feet per second) varying from six fps for the conventional takeoff and landing version to 20 fps for the carrier-capable version. The carrier version must be capable of withstanding descent rates up to 28 feet per second.

The dual-wheel nose gear (shown here at the company's test facility in Toronto, Canada) for the carrier-- capable version of the Boeing JSF features a unique configuration that will permit retraction into the fuselage under the chin air intake. Upon retraction, the two nose gear wheels "splay" (i.e., pivot away from each other) to flatten their profile for storage in the confines of the wheel well.

Messier Dowty-designer of the main landing gear for the F/A-18 Hornet, V-22, T-45, and Rafale, and of nose gear for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and AV-8B-- designed the JSF landing gear using the virtual design software common to all engineering design activities of the Boeing JSF team.