F-35 Team Looks to
Next Milestones Following Preliminary Design Review
18 April 2003
FORT WORTH, Texas - A successful Preliminary
Design Review (PDR) has the Lockheed Martin F-35
Joint Strike Fighter team looking ahead to
upcoming milestones while closing out a handful
of remaining PDR issues. As with all tactical
aircraft programs, the most significant
immediate challenge is weight reduction and
control.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. is a business
area of Lockheed Martin Corp. [NYSE: LMT]
The F-35 Air System PDR, a major program
milestone in which the government and
contractors review progress on each of the
F-35’s on-board and off-board systems, was held
at the company’s Fort Worth plant March 24-27.
The purpose of PDR is to assess the aircraft’s
early design in preparation for the next major
program milestone, Critical Design Review (CDR),
scheduled for spring 2004.
“PDR showed that our preliminary design meets
the F-35 Key Performance Parameters, and our
balanced design approach achieves present and
future F-35 Air System requirements and
solutions,” said Tom Burbage, executive vice
president and general manager of the Lockheed
Martin F-35 JSF program.
Rear Adm. Steven L. Enewold, the F-35 deputy
program executive officer, added, “We’ve seen
significant design maturation since last year’s
Air System Requirements Review milestone, and we
need similar gains for CDR.”
In defining the F-35’s overall baseline
design, PDR clears the way for the development
team, including subcontractors, to enter into
the critical design phase and to begin
manufacturing long lead-time parts for the first
series of development aircraft. The program
remains on schedule for CDR in 2004.
While the vast majority of F-35 systems were
judged to be progressing as planned, a small
number of issues remained open. Some have been
resolved since the close of PDR, while engineers
continue to work a remaining few.
Two of the open issues were related to volume
constraints in the highest-density areas of the
fuselage: the weapons bay and engine cavity.
Weapons clearances and the routing of
wiring/plumbing posed the main challenges. In
recent weeks, engineers incorporated
configuration adjustments to resolve those
issues.
The remaining significant issue involves
higher-than-expected preliminary weight
estimates of F-35 structural elements. The issue
- mostly attributable to structural arrangement,
load paths and design immaturity (owing to the
early stage of the program) - is under intense
study.
“Because we’re using modern design tools that
have identified issues much earlier than in
legacy programs, we’re able to apply the
considerable resources of our international team
to resolve these issues much more quickly than
before,” Burbage said. “And we’re doing this
without compromising the F-35’s performance and
without traditional rework. We expect all
remaining issues to be closed in the May/June
time frame.”
Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 in
conjunction with its principal industrial
partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE SYSTEMS. Two
separate but interchangeable engines are under
development by Pratt & Whitney and General
Electric. Among the aircraft F-35 will replace
are the AV-8B Harrier,
A-10, F-16, F/A-18C and United Kingdom’s
Harrier GR.7 and Sea Harrier.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.,
headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is a leader
in the design, development, systems integration,
production and support of advanced military
aircraft and related technologies. Its customers
include the military services of the United
States and allied countries throughout the
world. Products include the F-16, F/A-22, F-35
JSF, F-117, T-50, C-5, C-130, C-130J, P-3, S-3
and U-2.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed
Martin employs about 125,000 people worldwide
and is principally engaged in the research,
design, development, manufacture and integration
of advanced technology systems, products and
services. The corporation reported 2002 sales of
$26.6 billion.
CONTACTS:
John Smith (817) 763-4084 (817) 312-5131
john.a1.smith@lmco.com
John Kent (817) 763-3980 (817) 308-5567
john.r.kent@lmco.com
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