The engineers at Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold AFB, Tenn., recently completed aerodynamic loads testing using a 12-percent scale model of the F-35 Lightning II (alias Joint Strike Fighter) in the facility’s 16-foot transonic wind tunnel. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin is using the data to build the new fighter’s final aerodynamic database. Engineers were testing load capacity on the wings, overall aircraft, and the horizontal tail, using “hundreds of pressure taps all over the fuselage, the wings, and the tail,” said Marc Skelley, DOD project manager at AEDC. The center plans to run the last test later this year.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.