Page 12 - Aerotech News and Review, October 30, 2020

Lessons from the mind guiding F-35 creation

by Larry Grooms problem determines the solution.”
special to Aerotech News The solution in the case of the F-35
required finding ways to accomplish
When the veils are lifted from each step in a process based upon
Lockheed Martin’s invention of the associating knowns with creative
Joint Strike Fighter, the wizard-in- thought in every facet of the program,
chief is revealed to be a man who including coordination between Skunk
could speak, interpret and organize Works working groups. Bevilaqua
the language of aerospace specialties. noted that creative manufacturing
Although Dr. Paul Bevilaqua, the projects must guard against errors
man behind the curtain as former caused by misunderstandings between
chief engineer for the Lockheed Mar- design, fabrication and manufacturing,
tin Skunk Works, has told the story marketing and other groups.
of the XF-35 invention many times to Although the Joint Strike Fighter
industry groups, he reached a wider program called for a commonly shared
audience Oct. 10 in an online webinar airframe, variations were required for
produced by the American Institute of different customers. The Marine Corps
Aeronautics & Astronautics Los An- variant required special thrust vector-
geles/Las Vegas Section. ing, propulsion cycling from turbofan
Bevilaqua explained the challenge to turbo shaft mode for VTOL opera-
in creating the Joint Strike Fighter was tion and an alternative jet engine for
performing a modern miracle by de- greater thrust. The propulsion system
signing a multi-role, single engine air made the X-35 the first aircraft to both
superiority fighter capable of both ver- fly supersonic and hover and land ver-
tical and short field takeoff and land- tically. The development team won the
ing and achieving supersonic speed. Collier Trophy, which recognizes “the
And the level of difficult rose a few greatest achievement in aeronautics or
notches with requirements that the astronautics in America” each year.
new fighter would meet the mission The Air Force version is stealthier
requirements of the U.S. Air Force, and the Navy variant has more wing
Navy and Marine Corps, as well as area and beefed-up airframe for car-
defense forces of friendly nations. rier landings and takeoffs.
And the final product had to be thrifty. But even the best laid plans for
Remembering the whole history cutting-edge research and develop- Courtesy photograph
of aircraft design, starting with the ment work to protect the nation un- A Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (F-35 Lightning II) flies over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
bicycle-building Wright Brothers, fortunately carry unhappy surprises on
Bevilaqua showed what he called the back end. The second and potentially most tioned. From the customer’s perspec- states, “the last 20 percent of the pro-
“the wheel of misfortune” depicting Bevilaqua expressed two primary costly threat to return on investment tive, “They want everything. They just
50 earlier attempts to invent an air- threats to happy landings for aero- is found in the expression, “The high don’t want to pay for it.” gram drives 80 percent of the cost.”
craft that could reliably take off and space defense contractors. The first is Bevilaqua pointed out that as has
land vertically while still performing cautioned about in the Skunk Works cost of a little more.” And from the internal product de- been seen in other recent aerospace
useful work. He said only one design philosophy: “One miracle per pro- Bevilaqua said the biggest financial velopment and marketing side, there technology leaps, including the B-2,
succeeded, the British designed AV- gram.” Technological miracles, such problem to hit the F-35 program was is the too helpful sales pitch for an “as the cost of weapons goes up, the
8B Harrier jump jet that required top as making it possible for a jump jet to the cost of agreeing to accept a new unnecessary gizmo or too fast agree- number of units goes down.”
cover because its top speed was sub- fly supersonic is about all any contrac- helmet display, which added substan- ment to a customer’s demand for an Although the unit costs of the F-
sonic. tor can afford. tially to the cost of the program with- unneeded change.
Bevilaqua, with advanced degrees In the case of the F-35, Lockheed out any productive outcome. No matter where the financial 35s coming off assembly lines have
in mathematics and aero engineering, Martin used off-the-shelf technologies Such budget busting change and change hits, the defense contractor is reportedly dropped in recent years,
said the first step was correctly stating and components wherever they met re- gold-plated add-ons can be driven ex- exposed to the dreaded Pareto Prin- operational budgets for the fleet are
the problem. “The way you state the quirements at the most affordable cost. ternally or internally, Bevilaqua men- ciple of the 80/20 Rule, which roughly reported to be increasing.
NASA’s Armstrong center launches virtual tour

Have you ever wanted to visit a NASA flight research
center? Now you can take a behind-the-scenes look at
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.
The center is currently not open to the public. Two phases
have been released.
In the first phase, visitors enter the center and see histori-
cal aircraft like the SR-71, X-29 and F-8 Digital Fly-By-
Wire are on display. Continuing the tour, guests go inside
the center’s main aircraft hangar to see current NASA
aircraft used in flight research like the F/A –18BV and F-
15B as well as a TG-14 that is capturing data for sonic
boom research.
In the second phase, Armstrong’s Go for Flight, you can
step into the life of a NASA pilot and visit where they do
their simulations of flying aircraft in the Research Aircraft
Integration Facility and get ready for flight with Life Sup-
port ensuring pilots are safe when they fly.
Supersonic flight, electric aircrafts propulsion and in-
tegration of unmanned aircraft into the national airspace
system are some of the focuses for Armstrong. More phases
will be released, and you can let us know what you would
like to see on our social media: Instagram, Facebook or
Twitter.
To take a tour of the center and see the mission con-
trol center, unmanned aerial vehicles, engine shop and
more, visit https://www.nasa.gov/armstrong/virtualtours.

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