Defence Magazine

The images on this page show the progression from the blueprint through assembly, test phase, to preparing to roll out. All images courtesy of Lockheed Martin.

The progress that has been made on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project over the past couple of months is impressive.

The first Conventional, Take-Off & Landing variant of the F-35 JSF rolled out of the production line on 19 February at the Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas, and has now been transferred to the flight test facilities. Ground test activities have begun in preparation for first flight towards the end of the year. Final checkout of the fuel system was completed on 11 March.

Rollout of the first test aircraft followed the successful completion of the Critical Design Review (CDR), showing that the aircraft designs are sufficiently mature to proceed to production. Defence's Director-General New Air Combat Capability, Air Commodore (AIRCDRE) John Harvey, along with representatives from the Australian New Air Combat Capability (NACC) project team in Washington, flew to Fort Worth to attend the five-day (not to mention the 2200 Power Point chart) CDR activity.

'The F-35 JSF showed a very high level of maturity at the CDR,' AIRCDRE Harvey said.

'Many of the systems are well beyond the CDR stage, many actually flying on surrogate aircraft. The aircraft engine (the Pratt & Whitney F135)—often the pacing element on previous fighter aircraft programs—is ahead of schedule and is building on flight experience already achieved in the F-22 program, which uses the same core engine.

'The F-35 has also benefited from the F-22 program in other areas, particularly in terms of the avionics and sensor systems, and also stealth technologies.' Development of F-35 operational concepts and tactics are also well under way. Australian operational and test pilots, and analysts from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation participated in a range of tactical simulator events called 'Agile Endeavour'. There have been four dedicated national events and two Coalition warfare events, which have provided a forum where all nine partner countries can participate, share lessons learnt and work on developing a common partner concept of operations for JSF employment.

Royal Australian Air Force pilots participating in Agile Endeavour events have come from both the F/A-18 and F-111, and have all had instructor pilot, test pilot, fighter combat instructor or operational background experience. All pilots have found the overall JSF capabilities to be outstanding in both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions. The stealth, sensor suite, data fusion and information exchange capabilities of the JSF provide the pilot with exceptional situational awareness.

This allows first-look, first-shoot, first-kill capability in air-to-air tasks, and the ability to locate and attack moving and fixed targets in air-to-surface tasks.

'The fifth-generation JSF represents a generational jump in capability over legacy, fourth-generation fighter aircraft,' AIRCDRE Harvey said.

Despite media reporting to the contrary, the stealth capability of the JSF aircraft has not been downgraded. There has not been any change to either the design requirements or the expected performance of such aircraft.

Australia joined the Systems Development and Demonstration phase of the JSF Program in October 2002, along with the United States and seven other international partners. Before making that decision, Defence carried considerable analysis on the full range of contenders to replace Australia's F-111 and F/A-18 aircraft.

The next phase of the program—Production, Sustainment and Follow-on Development—will be governed by a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) currently being negotiated. This MoU will cover the nine countries' fleet of aircraft through their life and could involve expenditure of as much as US$1 trillion.

AIRCDRE Harvey recently led the Australian negotiating team (comprising members from the Department of Defence; the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources; and the Australian Government Solicitor) in completing the fourth round of a planned five rounds of formal negotiations on the MoU.

Signature is planned for December this year if Australia's requirements are met. As well as a range of technical requirements within the MoU, Australia's broader strategic requirements include:

While there has been good progress on the JSF program, there will continue to be challenges. Not least among these challenges will be the integration of the large number of aircraft systems and the full range of software required to make the whole system work. But as AIRCDRE Harvey has said, 'if it were not challenging, it wouldn't be good enough to satisfy our air combat requirements out to 2030 and beyond'.

'Ongoing analysis continues to confirm our original assessment that the JSF—integrated into the networked ADF [Australian Defence Force]—will mature to deliver the capability we need and, equally important, it will do that in a way that Australia can afford, now and throughout the life of the project.'

Defence

Defence Materiel Organisation

Spectacular progress with JSF