Lockheed Martin's F-35C Lightning II carrier variant undergoes drop testing
Posted by John McHale
DALLAS, 10 April 2010. Lockheed Martin's F-35C Lightning II carrier variant ground-test article, CG-1, is undergoing drop testing at Vought Aircraft in Dallas – one of 53 tests planned for CG-1 at Vought.
During the test the CG-1,was dropped 95 inches at 20 feet per second, with an 8.8-degree pitch, 2-degree roll, and 133-knot wheel speed, simulating a carrier-deck landing. Five hundred sensors are monitored during testing, with 2,500 points collected per second.
The F-35C will be the Navy's first stealth fighter. In addition to ground testing, flight test continues, with more than 170 test flights logged. During the first quarter of 2010, the three F-35B test aircraft at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., outperformed flight test requirements, completing 33 flights compared to the 29 required, Lockheed Martin officials say. Twenty-eight of the flights took place at Patuxent River, with the remaining five conducted from Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth plant.
