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.
VIDEO: 4 Principles of Agile JADC2 Development
Jan. 18, 2021
Innovation has always been a hallmark of the U.S. Air Force. But with the accelerating pace of technology development, the service needs a new approach to modern design to make the latest technologies profoundly more accessible.