News Review: First JSF 'gun ship' flies | ADM Jun 2010

1 June 2010

The seventh Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II flight test aircraft, AF-2, has joined the flight test program configured to test and verify the aircraft's multiple weapons loads.

AF-2 will be used to verify the F-35A's ability to carry both internal and external weapons throughout the required flight envelope.

The jet is also the first F-35 to have the internal GAU-22/A 25mm gun system installed.

This is a four-barrel Gatling gun which fires at a rate of 3,000 rounds per minute.

Gun testing on AF-2 will be used to confirm predictions of gun vibration, acoustic and recoil loads with the aircraft and various weapons.

Additionally, the aircraft will be used to confirm vibro-acoustic loads with the weapons-bay doors open and closed with various weapon configurations.

The measurements will validate the structural design of the jet, and provide evidence of the F-35A weapons' compatibility with gunfire and weapons-bay environments.

Supersonic launch of internal weapons, including maximum-speed (Mach 1.6) launch of internal air-to-air missiles, is a feature of all F-35s.

An internal-weapons-only configuration is used when Very Low Observable stealth is required to complete a mission.

When VLO stealth is not required, more than 15,000 pounds of additional ordnance can be loaded onto six external pylons.

F-35 test aircraft are supported by the F-35 Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) and managed by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Sustainment Operations Center in Fort Worth.

ALIS is the worldwide support system reporting and recording the prognostics and health of all F-35s around the globe to ensure mission readiness.