NGC Begins Assembling First F-35 Production Jet

MILTECH

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by Staff Writers
Palmdale CA (SPX) Apr 04, 2008
Northrop Grumman has begun assembling the center fuselage for the first production Lightning II jet, a weight-optimized, U.S. Air Force F-35A conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant designated AF-6. The center fuselage is the core structure around which the F-35 aircraft is built.

The assembly process began March 24 at the company's Palmdale Manufacturing Center with the loading of an all-composite air inlet duct into a special tooling structure called a jig. This first assembly process, one of approximately 18 major steps in assembling an F-35 center fuselage, consists of attaching metal frames around the duct. The frames serve to brace and position the duct properly within the center fuselage.

"Jig loading the AF-6 center fuselage is significant because it shows the F-35 program is successfully transitioning from the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase into the production phase," said Janis Pamiljans, vice president and F-35 program manager for Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector.

"Through a disciplined approach to managing costs and engineering changes, we've reduced our average center fuselage assembly time by approximately 28 percent since the SDD program began."

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Thompson Files: Dumb defense decisions

Arlington VA (UPI) April 3, 2008
U.S. military expert Anthony Cordesman claims the Bush administration has fielded "the worst wartime national security team in United States history." That's pretty harsh.

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