When In Rome
By Sarah Shenk, 8 October 2012
"With a flashy black and yellow tail adorned with a skull and crossbones, the sleek fighter high above the US Air Force Research Laboratory at Rome in upstate New York is hard to miss. This aircraft, which is not actually an aircraft at all, is one of two full-scale models built by Lockheed Martin to measure the antenna performance of the F-35 Lightning II. The paint scheme mimics the insignia of VF-103, the famed US Navy fighter squadron known as the Jolly Rogers.
Measuring the antenna performance, or pole testing, began at Rome Research Lab eight years ago....
...The team went to work constructing the first model – an F-35 frame that would represent both the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing, or CTOL, and short takeoff and vertical landing, or STOVL, variants. The fiberglass and aluminum frame was subcontracted to ATI and designed so that different antennas can be installed at various positions to validate and test gain patterns and performance. The team completed the model, replete with traditional Air Force markings and unique crest of the Air Force Research Lab Test Directorate, in ten months. Testing began in 2004 – a full two years before the first flight of F-35 AA-1, the first test aircraft.
Once the joint Lockheed Martin-USAF JPO team completed the model, the first sets of antennas were installed. The 8,500-pound model was then hoisted atop the fifty-foot tower to begin testing. In its new location, the model is put through thousands of antenna pattern tests to determine if each antenna is working as predicted by the design team....
...Testing the CTOL model was a continuous process; the team completed tests as new antennas became available and as the program needed new information. With the majority of the CTOL testing now complete, Hamre and his team began constructing an F-35C carrier variant model to test how the larger wings and slightly different airframe may impact the aircraft’s additional antennas.
Perched atop the pattern tower since May 2012, the Jolly Roger CV model has completed most of its right-side-up testing. It is now undergoing inverted testing, which is scheduled to be completed by late 2013.
“Testing the CV won’t take as long because most of the basic testing was already done during previous tests on the CTOL model,” Hamre said. “With the CV, we are trying to characterize the larger wing and tail surfaces to see how obscuration is impacted. So far all of the antennas have been working as predicted.”
Over the past eight years, the team has compiled more than 1.5 million pattern files, verified multiple antenna positions, and made pre-production design modifications to ensure the early production models have the final features and capabilities. The models aren’t done making an impact just yet. As the program continues to grow and more F-35s are produced and flying, the CTOL and CV models will continue to perch atop the tower in upstate New York testing antenna patterns and performance of F-35s for international operators.
Sarah Shenk is a communications representative for Lockheed Martin."
LONG ARTICLE - BEST READ AT URL.
Source:
http://www.codeonemagazine.com/f35_arti ... tem_id=108
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. is this an incoming (towards the F-35) radar test range or an outgoing (from the F-35) radar/CNI/ESM/MADL test range?
