Signals Final Preparations For First Flight

Lockheed Martin taxied the first F-35 Lightning II along the runway at its facility in Fort Worth, Texas last Thursday. The test initiated the last round of evaluations before the jet's first flight, and marked the first time the aircraft moved under its own power.

After a series of systems checks F-35 Chief Pilot Jon Beesley advanced the throttle and the F-35 moved out of its hangar to begin taxi tests.

Beesley accelerated up to 30 knots on the runway, testing systems such as brakes and nosewheel steering in advance of the first flight. Medium-speed taxi tests of 65 knots and 80 knots are next on the agenda, weather permitting.

The first Lightning II is powered by the Pratt & Whitney F135 turbofan, the most powerful engine ever installed in a fighter aircraft.

The stealthy F-35 is a supersonic, multi-role, 5TH Generation fighter designed to replace a wide range of existing aircraft, including AV-8B Harriers, A-10s, F-16s, F/A-18 Hornets and United Kingdom Harrier GR.7s and Sea Harriers. 

Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 Lightning II with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems.

Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development: the Pratt & Whitney F135 and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136.

The Pentagon and the US congress continue to see-saw over funding for the advanced multi-role fighter.  More airplanes means lower per unit costs, but securing funding for advanced high-tech weaponry in the face of a decidedly low-tech terrorist enemy is difficult at best. The Pentagon continues to press for more of the stealthy, high-tech jets, but congress is loathe to part with the cash.

Experts place total development costs for the three planned US versions at around $200 billion dollars. Despite that phenomenal number, the highest for any fighter program in US history, if Lockheed is able to stick to its ambitious production schedule the jet should eventually average around $50 million per copy.

In what may be a harbinger of things to come though, congress struck $1.2 billion in funding for the program from the FY2007 budget.

FMI:www.lockheedmartin.com