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Technology update
JSF testing
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Northrop Grumman's CATB, a modified BAC 1-11, is being used for airborne testing of the JSF's advanced avionics.
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The Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) team has begun testing the aircraft's avionics and radar cross section. The company also has completed airframe assembly of its first JSF demonstrator, the X-35A.
The team began airborne testing of the aircraft's multisensor avionics system in Northrop Grumman's Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATB), a modified BAC 1-11 aircraft, which will be flown from Baltimore, MD. Airborne testing is being done to reduce risk by factoring in the dynamic, real-world effects on sensor performance that cannot be adequately reproduced in simulations or ground testing.
Advanced-technology avionics systems installed in the CATB include the Northrop Grumman multimode radar and distributed infrared sensor system, the Kaiser helmet-mounted display, and a Lockheed Martin processor. The radar features an electronically scanned array antenna. The infrared sensor system, along with the helmet-mounted display, allows the pilot to "look" in any direction to spot targets and threats, day or night. The helmet-mounted display provides the pilot with off-boresight target/sensor cueing capabilities, as well as other data traditionally provided by a fixed head-up display. The JSF will be able to correlate target data from onboard sensors and offboard sources.
Approximately 50 flights and 150 flight hours are planned for the avionics systems in the CATB this spring and summer. Engineers will use data from the CATB flights to verify sensor design and fusion, as well as to provide environmental-effects data to refine sensor models and simulations.
A high-fidelity, full-scale JSF model is being used to test the aircraft's radar cross section.
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The JSF team is also conducting radar cross section testing of a full-scale aircraft pole model at Lockheed Martin's remote Helendale Measurement Facility in California. The model, known as SigMA (Signature Measurement Aircraft), is the culmination of a series of signature demonstrations validating affordability and risk reduction for the next phases of the JSF program. "The SigMA configuration was developed directly from our Preferred Weapon System Concept design, which continues its strong linkage to our X-35 demonstrator aircraft and will be highly representative of our EMD (Engineering and Manufacturing Development) proposal configuration," said Henry J. Levine, Vice President and Deputy for JSF operations.
The model's high-fidelity features include removable doors and access panels, canopy transparency, cockpit details, external lights, air data probes, engine components, edges, repositionable control surfaces, antenna apertures, radar array, and a flight-capable radome.
"The high level of detail built into the SigMA model is unprecedented for this stage of development," said Henry J. Sherrer, Manager of JSF signature demonstrations. "The SigMA results to date closely match our detailed predictions. By the end of the tests, we expect to qualify our JSF design as low risk in meeting customer survivability requirements."
The JSF team is also preparing for the first series of flight testing. "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. "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 X-35A is nearing completion at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, CA.
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Prior to first flight, the X-35A will undergo fuel system tests, installation of the flight-qualified conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) engine, ground vibration and structural coupling tests, auxiliary power unit tests, engine runs, vehicle management system final software checks, and taxi tests. Later this year the aircraft will be converted to a short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant, the X-35B, for the U.S. Marine Corps and British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
A second demonstrator aircraft, the X-35C aircraft carrier variant for the U.S. Navy, is also on schedule, with structural proof testing occurring in the spring. It will then follow the X-35A through ground testing before flying later this year.
Frank Bokulich
Aerospace Engineering June 2000
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