Northrop Grumman unveils fuselage for next U.S. fighter

Valley Press on ^ | Saturday, October 27, 2007. | ALLISON GATLIN

[BenLurkin]

PALMDALE - Six years after the contract was first awarded, Northrop Grumman Corp. employees Friday marked another milestone along the path to fielding the nation's next fighter, the F-35 Lightning II. The center fuselage for the first Air Force near-production version of the fighter was unveiled Friday at the company's Palmdale Manufacturing Center.

The fuselage incorporates design changes made during development to decrease weight in the final fighter.

"This is starting a new phase for what will be a very unique fighter capability," said Air Force Maj. Gen. C.R. Davis, program executive officer for the F-35.

The latest - and possibly last - manned fighter for the nation's armed services is envisioned as a truly joint-service fighter, with three variations of the same basic aircraft to meet the needs of the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

It also is an international program, with nine countries actively participating in the development and more expected to purchase the aircraft when completed.

The F-35 is expected to replace many other aging aircraft, including the A-10, F-14, F-16 and AV-8B Harrier. In the United Kingdom, it will replace the Harrier aircraft for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

The fuselages for all three versions of the F-35 are manufactured at Northrop's center at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.

They are then shipped to the Fort Worth, Texas, facility of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, the program's prime contractor, for final assembly.

"Today marks a momentous day for Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Lightning II program," said Bobby Williams, F-35 deputy program manager for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. The fuselage is "the first of literally thousands" that will head to Fort Worth to become fighters, he said.

[skinkinthegrass]

LOL!....ha! ha!, no....but, he'd be impressed by that 30mm Gatling Gun Cannon w/ 1000+ rds. :D

[BenLurkin]

"As soon as I saw that puke-ugly lower scoop on the Boeing with his “chin and cheeks” fuselage..."

You mean...the Flying Monica?

[Mr Rogers]

Perhaps...except the bugs weren’t worked out of the 111 until the 90s (AMP & Pacer Strike), which was just about in time for it to retire!

[patton]

Not quite - Boeing bought MDC, including the Phantomworks, in STL.

[fuzzthatwuz]

Thanks for the photo. Makes one want to salivate!

[2111USMC]

There’s something really wrong with that.

[flowerplough]

It’s partly because of their expected longevity that I again predict that the “5th generation” F-22 and the 4.5 gen F-35 will be America’s last frontline, pilot-carrying offensive aircraft. Remotely piloted vehicles’ maneuvers aren’t handicapped by the pilot’s physiology; their microprocessors need neither oxygen nor G-suits.

Most believe the troops on the ground will still need piloted-craft in support, for the forseeable future, but, at over $200 million per Raptor, and $100 million per JSF, we’ve spent ourselves out of the air-ace-as-Lancelot-on-horseback age. A pity, because the new planes so pretty, but in any near-future combat, God forbid, they’ll pro’ly just be rammed and destroyed by small swarms of remotely piloted suicide missile/drones.

[2111USMC]

That looks like it’s designed for scooping up geese.

[knarf]

My favorite P38/GoreBULL warming story ... enjoy

[flowerplough]

and La Tolteca, from the tagline, is in Rehoboth, DelAware. el oopso!

[Truth Addict]

Thanks for the photo. Makes one want to salivate!

That's only about half of them. They were at Kermit Week's Fantasy of Flight near Orlando; it's well worth a visit if you are in the area.

They were all brand new, never been run except for testing at the factory.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Aren’t those the beauties that shot down Tojo?

[Rb ver. 2.0]

It’s the happy face of death.

[cpdiii]

I hope the weight loss was enough. Few airplanes have had so much hype to live up to and so many compromises to keep those performance promises from coming true

An aircraft is not complete when you put everything on it so it will do what you want it to do. It is complete when you take everything off of it that you can and it will still do what you want it to do.

Drag increases with the square of the velocity and gravity is a BITCH.

[af_vet_rr]

Yea, right. That has been parroted for decades. Isn't going to happen.

Actually it is - both the Air Force and Navy are moving to UAVs (or UAS as some call them now although UAV is what everybody knows them as). The US Army and Marine Corps are also pushing UAV.

If I'm a ground pounder, do I want a manned fighter that could be 15-20 minutes away, or do I want some UAVs that are 40,000 directly overhead, that have been following my patrol, and that can put Hellfires and Viper Strikes on whatever targets I designate within 2-3 minutes? Personally, I would take the UAV that can start putting Hellfires and Viper Strikes on targets within a few minutes rather than wait for an A-10 or F-16 that could be 10-15 minutes away.

The UAVs are where the future is headed, and even if the Air Force and Navy refused to go down that route (which they won't - the AF is a big supporter of UAVs and the Navy is already working on submersible carriers for UAVs), the Army and Marine Corps are working to have UAVs basically follow individual patrols in the future. Basically you would have a company going out on patrol, and they would have half a dozen or so UAVs (a "flock" as some are calling them) high overhead, ready to instantly drop down and start putting bombs or missiles on the bad guys, as well as constantly monitoring the broader area for bad guys, and giving the soldiers or Marines instant access to overhead imagery.

Of course, it's already been mentioned that UAVs would probably dominate in aerial combat, since they can go well above the G-tolerance of a human. People don't realize that the biggest factor holding fighters back is the capacity of the human body to handle the G forces involved.

[cpdiii]

Then, when those Rolls-Royces wound up, there was a throaty buzz all around...”I think you mean twin supercharged Allison engines. “

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think Allison and perhaps Packard produced the Rolls Supermarine Engine in the United States under license.

[investigateworld]

Packard made the RR ‘Merlin’ which powered the P-51. The Allison co. (then a div. of General Motors) made the V-1710 for the P-40, P-39 and P-63.
Now I’ll wait for the next trivia dud to come along and tell me that Allison also powered the P-XX

[cpdiii]

Thanks

Someone on Free Republic will always know the answer.

[hattend]

Six YEARS to get the first fuselage built?

Good thing the japs haven’t attacked Pearl Harbor again. It would take forever to get from the Hellcat to the Bearcat equivalent.

[jrp]

NGC BUMP