Team members at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex recently completed a successful test of a Pratt & Whitney F135 conventional takeoff and landing/carrier variant (CTOL/CV) engine at Arnold AFB, Tenn. “One reason this test was significant is that it was the first 2,600 [Total Accumulated Cycle count] Accelerated Mission Test on the F135 engine at AEDC,” said John Kelly, AEDC F135 test manager, in a release. “Previously these AMTs have been done at the Pratt & Whitney facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.” The test, which achieved a record test time efficiency of 98 percent, “provided integrated aircraft thermal load simulation, as well as led to the re-activation of special test equipment for the F135 that hasn’t been used in several years,” according to an AEDC release. Crews worked 24-hour operations over five days a week, with some six-day weeks as well, states the release. Concurrent operations on an F119 engine were still being conducted for 16- to 18-hours per day while the F101 engine was also being tested around-the-clock.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.