AEDC test teams prep F-35 for first external weapons release

  • Published
  • By Deidre Ortiz
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  Testing in the aerodynamic wind tunnels at AEDC helped prepare the Navy variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for its first external weapons release.

During a flight completed by the F-35 Patuxent River Integrated Task Force in September, four 500-pound Guided Bomb Unit-12 laser-guided inert bombs were successfully released from the pylons on wings of an F-35C at a Navy test range in Maryland during test runs.

According to ATA senior engineer David Anderson, the first F-35 weapon integration tests were conducted at AEDC.

Anderson added that the GBU-12 has specifically been tested on six weapon separation or Captive Trajectory Support tests at AEDC. 

"These tests were conducted from the Conventional Take-Off & Landing, Short Take-Off Vertical Landing and Carrier Variant aircraft variants and obtained separation characteristics of the GBU-12, and various other weapons, from the weapon's bay internal carriage and external wing positions," he said.

Based on Anderson's calculations, it's estimated that the 1/15-th scale Lockheed Martin F-35 model has been tested in 4T for more than 3,300 user occupancy hours at a cost exceeding $12 million.

"I am very proud of the work that we accomplished on the F-35 Program in the Tunnel 4T at AEDC. The individual tests were long and complex, and in most cases, required the unique capabilities and expertise available only here at AEDC.  I believe that through our commitment to meet the customer's expectations, we [helped] deliver a product second to none."

According to a statement from the aircraft's joint program office, the recent flight "confirmed the accuracy of the predicted release trajectory."

Last November, the Navy successfully landed F-35Cs on an aircraft carrier, off the coast of San Diego, Calif. The service expects to declare initial operational capability in 2018.

-AEDC-