Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review 6-3-13

British pilot completes 1,000th vertical landing in F-35
BAE Systems test pilot Peter ‘Wizzer’ Wilson
has completed the 1,000th vertical landing in an
F-35 Lightning II as part of ongoing flight testing
of the jet.
The milestone occurred at Naval Air Station
Patuxent River, Md., and came just 6 years since
another BAE test pilots, Graham Tomlinson, com-
pleted the first vertical landing.
Wizzer is the Lead Test Pilot for the Short
Take Off and Vertical Landing variant of the F-35
Lightning II, which is the jet which will operate
from the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier for
the United Kingdom.
He said: “Every day, the test team carries out
numerous take-offs, landings and sorties with the
aim of ensuring the aircraft is performing in ac-
cordance with our expectations.
“To be the pilot who conducted the 1,000th
vertical landing is a bit special, especially given
it was Graham “GT” Tomlinson who conducted
the first in 2010.
“As is usually the case, the aircraft was flaw-
less, which makes the work very satisfying. It is
of paramount importance to us that the F-35B is
ready for the UK war fighter and everything we’re
doing points to the fact that it’s ready.
“‘First of Class’ Flight Trials on the Queen
Elizabeth Class are less than three years from now
and there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Last June, Wizzer became the first pilot to
launch the F-35 STOVL variant from a ski jump.
BAE Systems plays a key role in the design,
development and manufacture of both the aircraft
and the aircraft carrier, and also leads the work to
ensure that both are integrated seamlessly for the
UK customer.
Lockheed
Martin to
continue
LRASM
integration,
test program
Raytheon begins delivery of railgun pulse power containers
Raytheon photograph
Raytheon built this pulse power
container to provide the mighty
32-megajoule jolt that the U.S.
Navy’s new railgun requires. The
railgun would fire a projectile at six
times the speed of sound.
6 Aerotech News and Review
The trials being undertaken in the United States At our Warton site, the data from the flight tri- pilots and engineers to fly the F-35B from the
inform the program and BAE engineers involved in als is used to further improve the models used in
it on both sides of the Atlantic, including engineers a unique simulation facility.
at sites in the U.K. helping to develop and test the
latest technologies for the aircraft. Using the latest cutting edge technologies, en-
gineers have developed a simulator that allowed
Lockheed Martin has received a $321.8 million sole-source
contract from the U.S. Navy for the continuation of the Long
Range Anti-Ship Missile integration and test phase.
The integration and test contract funds continuation of LRASM
flight testing and integration onto the U.S. Air Force B-1B and
the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F aircraft. LRASM early operational ca-
pability for the U.S. Air Force and Navy is expected in 2018 and
2019 respectively.
“The LRASM team has successfully met all requirements on
an accelerated acquisition timeline in an effort to give our warf-
ighters a much-needed robust, anti-ship capability,” said Mike
Fleming, LRASM program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles
and Fire Control. “LRASM will give war fighters the ability to
engage in previously denied battle environments.”
LRASM was selected as the Increment I solution for the Offen-
sive Anti-surface Warfare program. After a competition in 2009,
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency selected Lock-
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deck of the QEC carrier, years before they can be
operated together in the real world.
This facility remains at the heart of developing
a carrier strike capability for the United Kingdom.
heed Martin’s LRASM to provide a demonstration of OASuW
air-launched capability to defeat emerging sea-based threats at
significant standoff ranges. The success of that demonstration
prompted initiation of an accelerated acquisition program, which
is now led by the U.S. Navy.
LRASM is a precision-guided anti-ship standoff missile lever-
aging Lockheed Martin’s successful Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff
Missile Extended Range heritage, and is designed to meet the
needs of U.S. Navy and Air Force war fighters in an advanced
anti-access/area-denial threat environment.
Armed with a proven 1,000-pound penetrator and blast-
fragmentation warhead, LRASM employs a multi-mode sensor,
weapon data link and an enhanced digital anti-jam Global Po-
sitioning System to detect and destroy specific targets within a
group of ships.
Raytheon has begun deliveries of pulse power containers in
support of the U.S. Navy’s Railgun program.
The containers, which are comprised of multiple pulsed power
modules, will be integrated into the Navy’s Railgun test range for
additional development and testing.
The modular pulsed power containers, when combined, pro-
duce enough energy to enable the electromagnetic launch of a
railgun’s high-velocity projectile at speeds in excess of Mach 6.
“Directed energy has the potential to redefine military technol-
ogy beyond missiles and our pulse power modules and contain-
ers will provide the tremendous amount of energy required to
power applications like the Navy Railgun,” said Colin Whelan,
vice president of Advanced Technology for Raytheon’s Integrated
Defense Systems business. “Raytheon’s engineering and manu-
facturing expertise uniquely position us to support next generation
weapon systems to meet the ever-evolving threat.”
Raytheon’s pulse power container design is the result of work
stemming from an initial $10 million contract with Naval Sea
Systems Command to develop a pulsed power system, which
will enable land or sea-based projectiles to reach great distances
without the use of an explosive charge or rocket motor. Raytheon
is one of three contractors developing a PPC design for the U.S.
Navy.
June 3, 2016