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Aviation History
2004
2004-00 - 0006.PDF
HEADLINES DEFENCE STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC Shortfalls strangle JSF ambitions Lockheed Martin to realign major milestones as weight and performance problems continue to dog F-35 development Lockheed Martin is backing away from an ambitious plan to develop and field the first short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) unit for the US Marine Corps near the end of 2010, yielding to projected airframe weight and performance shortfalls. Senior Lockheed Martin officials say the company is proposing to restructure the original timetable, but not abandon it. The goal remains to complete the pro gramme's $33 billion system devel opment and demonstration (SDD) phase on schedule by 2012, while realigning major milestones for the JSF's three variants - the STOVL GENERAL AVIATION Adam A500 approval slips again March is next date for twin Certification of the Adam Aircraft Industries A500 all-composite piston twin has slipped again, and is now forecast for March, around nine months later than originally planned. The A500 is the first aircraft to be developed by Englewood, Colorado-based Adam Aircraft, which says "there is no one thing" that has caused the delay. The third prototype A500, flown on 12 December, is the first conforming aircraft and will be used for certification flight testing. Initial certification will not include flight into known icing, says Adam. Work has begun on the fourth aircraft, the first for a customer, and Adam hopes to begin deliveries of the $895,000 A500 as soon after certification as possible. F-35B, the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A and the F-35C carrier variant (CV). A weight problem continues to dog development of the F-35B, the most complicated of the variants. Engineers believe they can rescue the STOVL variant with more time to mature propulsion and airframe design, but the development sched ule runs against them. For example, the F-35B will in 2006 become the second variant to begin flight test ing - following the CTOL aircraft by a few months, but will be first by almost a year to reach initial opera tional capability. The company is seeking to intro- Last-minute arguments over work- share and industrial returns have frozen the expected release of fund ing for a package of major European Space Agency (ESA) pro grammes that had been agreed by space ministers in May. Three programmes, one of which concerns the future of the Ariane launch system, are threat ened by the disagreement at the end-of-year ESA Council meeting at which outstanding issues - such as release of funding for previously agreed programmes - are tradition ally waved through. ESA insists it is "certain" the problems will be resolved at a sup- The Israeli air force's F-161 multirole fighter made its first flight from Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth plant in Texas on 23 December, clearing the way for production deliveries to begin in the first quarter of this year. The 55min debut assessed the air craft's flight controls and landing gear, plus its environmental control, cockpit and basic avionics systems. A total of 102 two-seat F-16ls will be manufactured for Israel until 2008. duce a more streamlined develop ment plan. "There's a lot of jump ing around from one version to the other" on the SDD calendar, says a Lockheed Martin official. A better approach may be an "alignment of these variants into more of a flow to where you almost had CTOL, CV [and then] STOVL". The programme has passed the fourth of five bottom-up weight reviews set before the final airframe design is locked in by April. The excess weight of the F-35B means it is in danger of failing to meet its performance requirements. A Lockheed Martin official says slipping the development schedule plemental Council meeting planned for 4 February. "If they aren't, there will be no Ariane," says the agency. On 27 May, the biennial ESA Ministers meeting in Paris agreed to spend €970 million ($1.19 bil lion) to put the troubled Ariane 5 programme back on track and to set up a development path for future launchers to ensure Europe has guaranteed access to space. This was meant to be supported as a package that includes develop ment of a Soyuz launch facility at the Arianespace launch centre at Kourou, French Guiana. At the meeting, the 15 European for the F-35B, which has been selected for the USMC and the UK, offers two advantages. First, the delay offers the programme more time to find ways to compensate by improving the propulsion system. Second, it increases the pro gramme's early focus on the simpler design of the US Air Force's F-35A, which is to start flight tests by late October 2005. The tests may offer clues to airframe or propulsion improvements. The official says the X-35's powerplant stunned design ers by offering about 2,500shp (l,900kW) more than projected. A similar margin could largely resolve the F-35B's performance shortfall. ministers responsible for space agreed that funding ESA's launcher plans was "critical to safeguarding Europe's guaranteed access to space". Decisions reached at the meeting were described as "among the most important in years". Participants at the meeting declined to reveal the exact cause of the dispute, but it is understood that they centre on disagreements between France, Italy and Germany over industrial returns. "They're looking for balance," says ESA. "It's a matter of give and take. There was a lot of work to do and the time ran out. We fully expect a satisfactory outcome in February." DEFENCE ARIE EGOZI / TEL AVIV Israeli F-16 multirole fighter makes first flight M Itirol SPACEFLIGHT JULIAN MOXON / LONDON Workshare haggles delay ESA cash 4 6-12 JANUARY 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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