Top 15 Technologies
14.
Paintless aircraft technology
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Lockheed Martin (www.lockheedmartin.com) and the 3M company have been conducting large-scale flight testing of paintless aircraft technology with three types of aircraft—the S-33 Viking, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and C-130 Hercules. The technology to coat aircraft with protective film, rather than paint, offers potential savings in production costs, support requirements, and aircraft weight. It will also provide significant environmental advantages, since industrial and military painting operations are a major source of environmental emissions.
The paintless aircraft technologies now being demonstrated are likely to receive their first production applications in the next generation of commercial and military aircraft, including the Joint Strike Fighter that is expected to enter service in 2008.
The first large-scale flight demonstration began in late April with an S-3 operated by Navy Squadron VS-32 at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. The aft one third of the anti-submarine aircraft is coated with the latest generation of a paint replacement film that is being developed by the joint program.
"The coating was applied to the S-3 structure using a computer-generated film kit that included precut appliques and preformed boots, resulting in a large savings of application time," said Bill Campbell, a materials and process engineer at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. "This could prove to be a significant affordability factor in future aircraft manufacturing." "The current program is aimed at solving the technical and economic challenges of commercializing paintless film technologies," Campbell said.
The S-3 has been flown almost daily and was recently deployed for five weeks of aircraft carrier operations. After this test, the aircraft will be stripped and recoated for testing of the next generation of experimental applique coating. Two tests of paintless materials have been conducted to date with F-16s, and a third program is scheduled. In preliminary tests, a structural panel in the tail area of an F-16 was coated with polymer film and flown by Lockheed Martin pilots for more than 35 hours, including supersonic time.
In the second F-16 test, involving a different coating material, all of the upper fuselage and wing surfaces were coated and the aircraft was flown for about 15 hours at Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA. The third F-16 test program will consist of flying a coated, paintless center-line fuel tank for an extended period.
The C-130 tests began in Marietta, Georgia, USA, in June and are being conducted with a Hercules that has 1600 square feet of external surface covered with applique materials, from the nose to the wing root.
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