NAWCAD Lakehurst adapts weapons loader for F-35B

F-35 Armament, fuel tanks, internal and external hardpoints, loadouts, and other stores.
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by spazsinbad » 20 Mar 2019, 22:49

NAWCAD Lakehurst adapts weapons loader for F-35B
19 Mar 2019 NAVAIR

"JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Team work and co-location at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst resulted in modified Support Equipment (SE) that gives the F-35B Lightning II more capability.

When the Marine Corps chose the Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-49 weapon system for the F-35B, they needed a piece of SE to load the weapon onto the aircraft. The GBU-49 provides new capability that will enable the F-35B to engage moving ground targets. However, the conduit on the GBU-49 did not fit the current weapons loader, until a team from NAWCAD Lakehurst modified the adapter, the ADU-894A/E, and delivered it to the Marines Corps on schedule in November....

...The AWSE branch is responsible for all equipment that transports weapons through the carrier or land-based environment, presents them to the aircraft and loads them on to the aircraft, said David Page, AWSE branch head. “For those airplanes that their missions are to fly ordnance, it’s our equipment that allows those 18-year-olds out there on pitching carrier decks to safely handle thousands of pounds of weapons, bring them up to an aircraft and load them up in a short time, both day and night. It’s where the rubber meets the road,” Page said....

...“What you dream up at a desk is a lot different than what can actually be made in the shop and how it functions in the fleet. So having the communication between everyone is definitely key, which speaks to having everyone centrally located, but also the attitude of ‘you’re the expert on this, you do it and tell me the path forward,’” Southard [Matthew Southard, principle engineer for the project] said."

Photo: "Chief Warrant Officer Jayson Callorina, right, inspects ordnance as Marine Corp Cpl. Joshua Cardile, left, and Marine Corps Cpl. Randle Lane, both assigned to the “Avengers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211, load a guided bomb unit (GBU) 49 onto an F-35B Lightning II on the flight deck of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) Dec. 12, 2018. (U.S. Navy photo)" http://www.navair.navy.mil/sites/g/file ... 967998.jpg


Source: http://www.navair.navy.mil/news/NAWCAD- ... ader-F-35B
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