STOVL F-35B Ready To Begin Hover Pit Tests

[tigershark]

STOVL F-35B Ready To Begin Hover Pit Tests
Feb 17, 2009

By Graham Warwick
The first short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter could begin powered-lift testing on the hover pit at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant as early as this week.

This will begin perhaps the most critical phase of testing for the F-35 program. About a month of hover-pit testing is planned before the first F-35B, aircraft BF-1, returns to the air to begin STOVL flight testing, says J.D. McFarlan, F-35 air vehicle development team lead.

This will build up to the first full vertical landing, expected to be performed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., in June or July and a key milestone for the program.

Hover pit tests will check performance and operation of the propulsion system up to full vertical thrust. In powered-lift mode the forward shaft-driven lift fan is engaged, the rear three-bearing nozzle swivels down and roll posts in the wing open.

BF-1 will be tied down over the open pit to measure forces and moments generated by the propulsion system during manual and automatic conversions between conventional and STOVL modes. Later the pit will be covered with steel plates to allow measurement of the ground environment and inlet temperatures and pressures during a vertical landing, McFarlan says.

Pit tests also will allow Lockheed Martin to measure the installed thrust of the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine and Rolls-Royce lift fan. This is key to confirming that the F-35B will achieve its STOVL performance objectives. McFarlan says the company is confident of achieving a minimum 40,550 pounds of vertical thrust, enough to enable the F-35B to meet its requirements.

Source
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/F35B021709.xml&headline=STOVL%20F-35B%20Ready%20To%20Begin%20Hover%20Pit%20Tests&channel=defense

[F-111 C/C]

Thanks Tigershark! Great stuff as always.

[tigershark]

Thanks F-111 C/C
For some reason I like the F-35 and think it's going to be a winner.  I saw the mock up in the new Air & Space Museum location in DC about four months ago.  I also think the STOVL model is going to be a big seller as well not at first but in the second rounds of new orders.   

[F-111 C/C]

I like it too. I also like the fact that every time I read about it from Lockheed-Martin it gets more thrust! Maybe by production, they'll have rung out another 4-5 thousand pounds! Not so long ago I think they were talking 32,500 lbs initially and had to hear a bunch of crap about it being underpowered. Keep 'souping' it up guys, you can never have too much thrust!

[shawn a]

So what do you think about the -35 in general?
Is it a Pitt Bull-Greyhound hybrid, or a quivering Chihuahua?
Will the -35 B's shaft eventually be used for powering directed energy weapons or simply used for short take-offs?
I think it's a dog.
But I've been wrong before- when I thought I'd made a mistake, but hadn't.

[Webmaster]

I like it too. I also like the fact that every time I read about it from Lockheed-Martin it gets more thrust! Maybe by production, they'll have rung out another 4-5 thousand pounds! Not so long ago I think they were talking 32,500 lbs initially and had to hear a bunch of crap about it being underpowered. Keep 'souping' it up guys, you can never have too much thrust!

Don't forget it also gained weight along the way...

[shawn a]

What kind of surface does this thng need to land upon without creating a crater?
And does not that constitute a specially prepared surface, and negate the "rough-field" capability?
Or was that never a real consideration?
Shawn A.

[AVIATOR]

OK, I think they got it sorted. Check out this awesome inside loop at ground level.

[shawn a]

Dream On

[AVIATOR]

Come on Shawn, seeing is believing and I put up a vid for you. This is now a normal manoeuver for our F-35.

[Eldorado82]

as a former aircraft technician i'm trhilled of the large amount of malfunctions that could be popping up during a test of such a new mechanism

[shawn a]

Aviator, I'd thought I'd answered this already, but I was wondering where you Aussies got an F-35B before we did? I also wanted you to know that I'm on dial-up here, and a video takes over 15 times as long to download as the video is long!
What's the name of your carrier? and, does it have a pub on board?
Shawn A.