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F-35 completes first airborne weapons separation
August 8, 2012 (by
NAVAIR News) -
The F-35 Lightning II accomplished a significant test milestone August, 8 when the aircraft successfully released a weapon in flight.
BF-3, a short take-off and vertical landing F-35 variant, released an inert 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) separation weapon over water in an Atlantic test range while traveling at 400 knots at an altitude of 4,200 feet.
"While this weapons separation test is just one event in a series of hundreds of flights and thousands of test points that we are executing this year, it does represent a significant entry into a new phase of testing for the F-35 program," said Navy Capt. Erik Etz, director of test for F-35 naval variants. "Today's release of a JDAM was the result of extraordinary effort by our team of maintainers, engineers, pilots and others who consistently work long hours to deliver F-35 warfighting capability to the U.S. services and our international partners."
The release was the first time for any version of the F-35 to conduct an airborne weapon separation, as well as the first from an internal weapons bay for a fighter aircraft designated for the U.S. Marine Corps, the United Kingdom and Italy.
The milestone marks the start of validating the F-35's capability to employ precision weapons and allow pilots to engage the enemy on the ground and in the air.
"[Using an internal weapons bay] speaks to how much capability the JSF is going to bring to the troops," said Dan Levin, Lockheed Martin test pilot for the mission. "Stealth, fifth-generation avionics and precision weapons … coupled with the flexible mission capability of the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B is going to be huge for our warfighters."
An aerial weapons separation test checks for proper release of the weapon from its carriage system and trajectory away from the aircraft. It is the culmination of a significant number of prerequisite tests, including ground fit checks, ground pit drops and aerial captive carriage and environment flights to ensure the system is working properly before expanding the test envelope in the air.
Aircraft and land-based test monitoring systems collected data from the successful separation, which is in review at the F-35 integrated test force at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
The first-ever F-35 weapons release test flight was successfully carried out over the Atlantic Test Range near NAS Patuxent River, Maryland on August 8th, 2012. During flight 224, Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Levin released an inert 1,000-pound GBU-32 JDAM separation test article while flying at 400 knots at an altitude of 4,200 feet in BF-03, the third F-35B test aircraft. [Photo by Andy Wolfe]
"While this weapons separation test is just one event in a series of hundreds of flights and thousands of test points that we are executing this year, it does represent a significant entry into a new phase of testing for the F-35 program," said Navy Capt. Erik Etz, director of test for F-35 naval variants. "Today's release of a JDAM was the result of extraordinary effort by our team of maintainers, engineers, pilots and others who consistently work long hours to deliver F-35 warfighting capability to the U.S. services and our international partners."
The release was the first time for any version of the F-35 to conduct an airborne weapon separation, as well as the first from an internal weapons bay for a fighter aircraft designated for the U.S. Marine Corps, the United Kingdom and Italy.
The milestone marks the start of validating the F-35's capability to employ precision weapons and allow pilots to engage the enemy on the ground and in the air.
"[Using an internal weapons bay] speaks to how much capability the JSF is going to bring to the troops," said Dan Levin, Lockheed Martin test pilot for the mission. "Stealth, fifth-generation avionics and precision weapons … coupled with the flexible mission capability of the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B is going to be huge for our warfighters."
An aerial weapons separation test checks for proper release of the weapon from its carriage system and trajectory away from the aircraft. It is the culmination of a significant number of prerequisite tests, including ground fit checks, ground pit drops and aerial captive carriage and environment flights to ensure the system is working properly before expanding the test envelope in the air.
Aircraft and land-based test monitoring systems collected data from the successful separation, which is in review at the F-35 integrated test force at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
Courtesy of PEO(JSF) Public Affairs
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- F-35B First Aerial Weapons Release VIDEO + Pictures + Info ( 104 replies)
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Additional images:
F-35B test aircraft BF-03 completed the first aerial weapons release for any variant of the aircraft on August 8th, 2012. BF-03 dropped an inert 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition over an Atlantic test range from an internal weapons bay. [Lockheed Martin photo]