Article Posted on : - Mar 23, 2011

A Northrop Grumman manufacturing engineer inspects the first F-35 production air inlet duct. A Northrop Grumman photo.

EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA (BNS): Turkish Aerospace Industries, a major international F-35 Lightning II supplier to Northrop Grumman Corporation, has delivered its first production air inlet duct for the jet.

The delivery of the all-composite duct, a major structural element of the F-35's center fuselage, will support Northrop Grumman's production of F-35 center fuselages for conventional takeoff and landing variants.

Northrop Grumman is a principal subcontractor of the Lockheed Martin led F-35 industry team. It is responsible for designing and producing the center fuselage for all three variants of the F-35.

TAI produced the air inlet duct as part of a five-year, $28.4 million contract awarded to the company in September 2009 by Northrop Grumman.

Deliveries of the TAI-produced center fuselages are scheduled to begin in 2013, as part the F-35 program's fifth phase of low rate initial production.