A joint venture between Boeing and Textron’s Bell subsidiary has handed over to the U.S. Navy the CMV-22B, an updated variant of a multimission platform built to carry cargo and personnel through aircraft carriers.
Read More »Raytheon Eyes Joint Standoff Weapon Integration for Air Force F-35As
A Raytheon-built joint standoff weapon is expected to be certified for use on the U.S. Air Force’s F-35A Lighting II fighter aircraft by the end of November, FlightGlobal reported Monday.
Read More »Report: Lockheed Looks to Increase F-35 Missile Capacity With New Weapons Rack
Lockheed Martin aims to increase the F-35 fighter jet’s air-to-air firepower with a newly-built weapons rack designed to increase payload capacity to six missiles, Popular Mechanics reported Friday.
Read More »Initial Ground Test Results of Lockheed-Built F-35A Variant Show Potential for Service-Life Increase
Lockheed Martin and the F-35 joint program office have wrapped a series of durability, drop and static tests designed to validate the F-35 aircraft’s resilience and strength in combat environments and support maintenance forecasting and fleet management operations. The fighter aircraft has an average service lifetime of 8K hours and …
Read More »Raytheon, Navy Complete Final Developmental Test of F-35C Joint Standoff Weapon
Raytheon and the U.S. Navy have finished developmental testing of the Joint Standoff Weapon C warhead for use on the F-35 aircraft’s C variant. The company said Tuesday the 1,000-pound JSOW makes use of a global positioning system-based inertial navigation platform equipped with an infrared seeker made to autonomously detect targets. The air-to-ground …
Read More »Lockheed’s F-35 completes final system devt & demonstration flight test
Lockheed Martin has announced the completion of the final flight test of the F-35 program’s system development and demonstration phase. The company and the military completed the final SDD test flight Wednesday by flying the U.S. Navy’s F-35C test aircraft, CF-2, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland to assess …
Read More »Raytheon integrates air-to-ground missile tech into Navy F-35C
Mark Borup, senior manager of business development for the air warfare systems product line at Raytheon‘s missile systems business, has said the company helped the U.S. Navy integrate a variant of the Joint Standoff Weapon system into the F-35C aircraft, Military.com reported Tuesday. Borup told Military.com in an interview the JSOW-C installation was part of …
Read More »Boeing Previews Offering for Navy’s MQ-25 Tanker Drone Program
Boeing has unveiled its proposed unmanned aircraft offering for the U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 carrier-based aerial refueling tanker drone program. The company said Tuesday it has begun engine tests on its proposed unmanned aerial system in preparation for deck handling demonstrations in 2018. “We will be ready for flight testing when …
Read More »Lockheed-Built F-35 Fleet Exceeds 100,000 Flight Hours
The Lockheed Martin-built F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft fleet has surpassed 100,000 flight hours as the company works to complete the program’s system development and demonstration phase. Lockheed said Monday the remaining F-35 development flight tests include the validation of the final Block 3F software release; F-35B ski jump demonstrations and …
Read More »Dave Wajsgras: Raytheon to Develop Landing Guidance Tool for F-35, Drones Under $255M Navy Contract
Raytheon will work to develop and produce a Joint Precision Approach and Landing System for integration with the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 aircraft and unmanned aerial systems under the potential six-year, $255 million contract with the U.S. Navy. The company said Wednesday the contract could reach $270 million in total value if the …
Read More »USS George Washington Hosts F-35C Test Pilots to Complete Dev’t Testing
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George Washington will host a Patuxent River integrated test force team for the Lockheed Martin-built F-35C fighter aircraft in support of developmental testing efforts. The USS George Washington office said Sunday the test pilot team will work to complete the third and final at-sea stage as part of preparations for the F-35 …
Read More »Lockheed-Built F-35 Fleet Hits 50K Flight Hours
A fleet of Lockheed Martin-built F-35 Lightning II aircraft that the U.S. service branches and other countries operate worldwide has reached the mark of 50,000 flight hours. Lockheed said Wednesday 155 operational fighter jets deployed to six countries reached approximately 37,950 flight hours, while 18 F-35 planes intended for system development and …
Read More »Lockheed F-35C Jets Complete 2nd At-Sea Test Round
Lockheed Martin has completed a second round of F-35C at-sea tests aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to check the maneuver, launch and nighttime operations of the F-35‘s carrier-based variant, Reuters reported Friday. Andrea Shalal writes those tests included night flights in which pilots used helmets that Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems redesigned for …
Read More »Alcoa to Supply Titanium for Lockheed’s F-35; Klaus Kleinfeld Comments
Lockheed Martin has awarded a potential nine-year, $1.1 billion subcontract to Alcoa for titanium plate and billet components on the F-35 fighter jet from 2016 to 2024. Lockheed will use the titanium build the airframe structures for F-35 variants such as the conventional takeoff and landing aircraft, short takeoff/vertical landing aircraft and …
Read More »Navy Plans 2nd Round of Sea Trials for Lockheed’s F-35C Jets
The U.S. Navy will conduct at-sea trials of Lockheed Martin‘s F-35C jet aboard the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier in October as part of the program’s second development testing phase, Defense News reported Thursday. Lara Seligman writes that the tests will verify the carrier-variant joint strike fighter’s launch and recovery functions and performance …
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