Article Posted on : - Jan 28, 2009

F-35 image from Lockheed Martin

NEW DELHI (BNS): The F-35 Lightning II -- formerly known as Joint Strike Fighter --development programme achieved another milestone when it completed key trials before the first flight expected to take place later this year.

Lockheed Martin announced that the short-take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) variant of F-35 underwent fuel system checks last week. The aircraft is being prepared for its first flight trial.

All the necessary mission systems and avionics have been installed. F-35 will be equipped with sensors for detecting, locating, identifying, tracking and targeting enemies from long ranges. It can also detect fast moving incoming threats from missiles and other devise and take corrective measures.

The US aviation giant claimed that equipment on board F-35 was fifth generation enhancing the battle fighting capabilities of the fighter. The sensors and avionics was one of the best available in the world and especially designed for F-35s.

"Testing of this aircraft will represent the fourth tier of our avionics validation process, comprising ground-based laboratory testing, airborne lab testing of individual sensors on surrogate aircraft, airborne testing of the fully integrated mission systems package on the Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, and, finally, airborne testing of the integrated system on an actual F-35," said Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 programme general manager was quoted as saying in a statement.

Going into the details of onboard avionics, the statement claimed that the test aircraft, known as BF-4, will be equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar and Integrated Communications, navigation and identification suite, and the BAE Systems Electronic Warfare system.

It will have a Block 0.5 mission systems software and it would be updated with additional equipment and software through combat ready Block 3 which is the final block in the System Development and Demonstration programme.

Five F-35s are ready and were being tested. The subsystems and flying qualities have already been validated. The officials expect the aircraft to be ready for the first flying in mid-2009 as it has performed well during ground testing.

Lockheed Martin is developing the aircraft with the help from Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. It will have two separate interchangeable engines – Pratt and Whitney F135 and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136.

The USAF and several of its allies were eagerly awaiting the delivery of F-35, the fifth generation combat jet. Apart from USAF it would be inducted in other air forces like Norway and Denmark.