Forum: F-35 Armament, Stores and Tactics

First Bomb Drop Ahead For The F-35 By Amy Butler July 09, 2012

http://www.aviationnow.com/Article.aspx ... ml&p=1

"...Training for F-35 pilots is slated to begin no earlier than 2013, according to U.S. Air Force Col. Andrew Toth, commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., the first F-35 training wing. This will mark when the Block 1B software needed for flight training is slated for delivery to Eglin.

Meanwhile, program officials are focused on continuing the pace of flight trials, a key requirement to continue burning down the excessive concurrency between the testing and production phases. In recent months, a major focus has been on preparing for the first F-35 weapons drop, which is slated for the fall, says Venlet.

The test team has already executed load and fit trials for the weapons bay. The aircraft has also been flown in various maneuvers with the weapons bay loaded and doors open to evaluate stresses. This includes carriage of 5,200 lb. of munitions supersonically. Finally, the aircraft has been loaded for external carriage of weapons; though this negates the aircraft's low radar cross section, the external positions offer more flexibility for users to carry various munitions and missiles.

“The lessons are tracking with our predictions,” says Steve O'Bryan, vice president for F-35 business development for Lockheed Martin....

...The 1A package supports basic pilot training and qualification as well as maintenance training.

However, the 1B release to Eglin is near, according to government officials....

...Challenges with the multilevel security required on the 1B software pushed the effort behind, Martin acknowledges....

...The 2B release will allow for basic close-air-support and interdiction activities as well as initial air-to-air and data-linking capabilities. Weapons included will be the AIM-120C7, Joint Direct Attack Munitions and the GBU-12 laser-guided, 500-lb. munition.

Overall, the software requires 9.3 million lines of code, 8.5 million of which is already being tested on the aircraft or in the laboratory, says Martin....

A long four page post where several bits will be posted elsewhere. GO READ IT AT URL ABOVE please. TAH.

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