Jsf Aircraft - Early production lots of all three variants will be powered by the Pratt and Whitney afterburning turbofan F-135 engine, a derivative of the F119 fitted on the F-22. Following production aircraft will be powered by either the F135 or the F-136 turbofan being developed by General Electric and Rolls-Royce.
However, in the 2007 US Military Budget, published in February 2006, no funding was allocated for the development of the F-136 engine. The US Congress voted to restore funding for the F-136 in October 2006. Major subassemblies will be produced by Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems at El Segundo, California and BAE Systems at Samlesbury, Lancashire, England.
Jsf Aircraft
BAE Systems is responsible for the design and integration of the aft fuselage, horizontal and vertical tails and the wing-fold mechanism for the CV variant, using experience from the Harrier STOVL program. Terma of Denmark and Turkish Aerospace Industries of Turkey are supplying sub-assemblies for the center fuselage.
Jsf Concept Demonstration Phase
Boeing was required to build a concept demonstration aircraft that would provide commonality across variants in operation, design and manufacture; direct-lift propulsion for short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL), hover and transition between vertical and conventional flight;
and ability to approach a carrier at low speeds. Boeing assembled two concept demonstration aircraft, X-32A and X-32B, at its plant in Palmdale, Calif. The stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter was designated the F-35 Lightning II in July 2006. The JSF is being built in three variants: a conventional take-off and landing aircraft (CTOL) for the US Air Force;
a carrier variant (CV) for the US Navy; and a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. A 70%-90% commonality is required for all variants. The development of the center fuselage for the first international F-35 joint strike fighter began on 30 October 2009. It is being developed by Northrop Grumman, principally for the UK.
The center fuselage including composite air inlet ducts were supplied by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). In September 2004, Lockheed Martin announced that, following concerns over the weight of the STOVL F-35B, design changes had reduced the aircraft weight by 1,225kg while increasing propulsion efficiency and reducing drag.
F- Joint Strike Fighter Programme
The weight requirements will also call for a smaller internal weapons bay than on the other variants. EOTS will be based on the Sniper XL pod developed for the F-16, which incorporates a mid-wave third-generation FLIR, dual mode laser, CCD TV, laser tracker and laser marker.
BAE Systems Avionics in Edinburgh, Scotland will provide the laser systems. In 1996, the U.S. The Department of Defense awarded Boeing a four-year contract for the concept demonstration phase of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program competition.
The goal was to develop a low-cost, multirole tactical aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. 16 CTOL and 15 STOVL production-model aircraft are in assembly and represent the aircraft in low rate initial production (LRIP) lots 1, 2 and 3. The CTOL variant includes one Dutch aircraft, while the STOVL offering includes two UK aircraft.
In September 2002, General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products was selected as the gun system integrator. General Dynamics was awarded a contract for the internally mounted 25mm GAU-22/A gun system for the air force CTOL variant in November 2008. General Dynamics is developing an external gun system for the carrier and marine variants.
Jsf Training Programme And Bases
BAE Systems Information & electronic warfare systems (IEWS) will be responsible for the JSF integrated electronic warfare suite, which will be installed internally and have some subsystems from Northrop Grumman. BAE is developing a new digital radar warning receiver for the F-35.
An $18.8m contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics by Dutch Space and Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) to build and install an embedded training system for the F-35 strike fighter aircraft. Multiship interaction, local and distributed weapons simulation, data link, data collection and off-board debriefing are different features provided by the embedded training system in the F-35 aircraft.
The project will be carried out by Dutch Space and NLR with the help of an integrated project team. Lockheed Martin Missile & Fire Control and Northrop Grumman Electronic Sensors and Systems are jointly responsible for the JSF electro-optical system.
A Lockheed Martin electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) will provide long-range detection and precision targeting, along with the Northrop Grumman DAS (distributed aperture system) thermal imaging system. In April 2003, JSF completed a successful preliminary design review (PDR).
F- Joint Strike Fighter Design
The critical design review (CDR) for the F-35A was completed in February 2006, for the F-35B in October 2006 and for the F-35C in June 2007. The first flight of the CTOL F-35A took place on 15 December
2006. Low-rate initial production (LRIP) for the F-35A/B was approved in April 2007 with an order for two CTOL aircraft. An LRIP 2 contract for six CTOL aircraft was placed in July 2007. The STOVL F-35B was rolled out in December 2007 and made its first flight, a conventional take-off and landing, in June 2008. STOVL flights began in early 2009.
An LRIP contract for six F-35B STOVL aircraft was placed in July 2008. The concept demonstration phase of the program began in November 1996 with the award of contracts to two consortia, led by Boeing Aerospace and Lockheed Martin.
The contracts involved the building of demonstrator aircraft for three different configurations of JSF, with one of the two consortia to be selected for the development and manufacture of all three variants. Weapons to be cleared for internal carriage include: JDAM (joint direct attack munition), CBU-105 WCMD (wind-corrected munitions dispenser) for the sensor-fused weapon, JSOW (joint stand-off weapon), Paveway IV guided bombs, small
diameter bomb (SDB), AIM-120C AMRAAM air-to-air missile and Brimstone anti-armor missile; for external carriage: JASSM (joint air-to-surface stand-off missile), AIM-9X Sidewinder, AIM-132 ASRAAM and Storm Shadow cruise missile. The X-32B aircraft made its first flight on March 29, 2001. It made 78 test flights in four months, including a transcontinental ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
The aircraft successfully transitioned to and from STOVL flight mode by using its direct-lift system to redirect thrust from the aircraft's cruise nozzle to the lift nozzles. The X-32B also demonstrated its ability to hover and make vertical landings.
The marine variant of JSF is very similar to the air force variant, but with a slightly shorter range because some of the space used for fuel is used for the lift fan of the STOVL propulsion system.
On Sept. 18, 2000, the X-32A made its first flight from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The X-32A demonstrated conventional takeoff and landing characteristics for the Air Force as well as carrier approach flying qualities for the Navy.
The aircraft made 66 flights during four months of testing. The flights validated the aircraft's handling qualities for inflight refueling, weapons bay operations and supersonic flight. The six bases implementing F-35 operations are Burlington International Airport Guard Station, Vermont;
Hill AFB, Utah; Jacksonville International Airport Air Guard Station, Florida; Mountain Home AFB, Idaho; Shaw AFB, South Carolina; and McEntire Air Guard Base, South Carolina. The five bases for training purposes are Boise Air Terminal Air Guard Station, Idaho;
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico; Luke AFB, Arizona; and Tucson International Airport Air Guard Station, Arizona. In January 2001, the UK MoD signed a memorandum of understanding to co-operate in the SDD (system development and demonstration) phase of JSF and, in September 2002, selected the STOVL variant to fulfill the future joint combat aircraft (FJCA) requirement.
Following the contract award, other nations signed up to the SDD phase are: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore and Turkey. DAS consists of multiple infrared cameras (supplied by Indigo Systems of Goleta, California) providing 360° coverage using advanced signal conditioning algorithms.
As well as situational awareness, DAS provides navigation, missile warning and infrared search and track (IRST). EOTS is embedded under the aircraft's nose, and DAS sensors are fitted at multiple locations on the aircraft. In October 2001, an international team led by Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to build JSF.
An initial 22 aircraft (13 flying test aircraft and eight ground-test aircraft) will be built in the program's system development and demonstration (SDD) phase. Flight testing will be carried out at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland.
On the F-35B, the engine is coupled with a shaft-driven lift fan system for STOVL propulsion. The counter-rotating lift fan, developed by Rolls-Royce Defence, can generate more than 20,000lb of thrust. Doors installed above and below the vertical fan open as the fin spins up to provide vertical lift.
The main differences between the naval variant and the other versions of JSF are associated with the carrier operations. The internal structure of the naval version is very strong to withstand the high loading of catapult-assisted launches and tailhook arrested landings.
The main engine has a three-bearing swiveling exhaust nozzle. The nozzle, which is supplemented by two roll control ducts on the inboard section of the wing, together with the vertical lift fan provide the required STOVL capability.
The aircraft has larger wing and tail control surfaces for low-speed approaches for carrier landing. Larger leading edge flaps and foldable wingtip sections provide a larger wing area, which provides an increased range and payload capacity.
The F-35 strengthens national security, enhances global partnerships and powers economic growth. As the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter jet in the world, the F-35 gives pilots the critical advantage against any adversary, enabling them to execute their mission and come home safe.
Although not selected for full-scale development of the JSF, Boeing viewed its involvement in the competition as a strategic investment. The program yielded many advances in stealth technology and design and manufacturing methods. These achievements have been applied to other Boeing programs including the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle, or UCAV.
The Joint Strike Fighter requirements are for: USAF F-35A air-to-ground strike aircraft, replacing F-16 and A-10, complementing F-22 (1763); USMC F-35B – STOVL strike fighter to replace F/A-18B/C and AV-8B (480); UK RN F-35C – STOVL strike fighter to replace Sea Harriers (60);
US Navy F-35C – first-day-of-war strike fighter to replace F/A-18B/C and A-6, complementing the F/A-18E/F (480 aircraft). The center fuselage assembling process includes loading of an all-composite air inlet duct into a special tooling structure called a jig, followed by 18 major steps such as bonding metal frames around the duct.
The frames serve to brace and position the duct properly within the center fuselage. Norway and Turkey (requirement 100 F-35A) signed in January 2007. Denmark and Italy (requirement 131 F-35A and B) signed in February 2007. In May 2008, Israel requested the sale of 25 F-35A aircraft with 50 options.
An integrated training center for the F-35 fighter program is to be set up at Elgin Air Force Base in the US. The training center will be inaugurated in 2010 and will be fully operational by 2013. Initial deliveries of F-35 fighter aircraft to Elgin Air Force Base are expected in 2010.
In order to minimize the structural weight and complexity of assembly, the wingbox section integrates the wing and fuselage section into one piece. To minimize radar signature, sweep angles are identical for the leading and trailing edges of the wing and tail (planform alignment).
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