F-35 JSF Testers Report Progress, Problems By Guy Norris, Graham Warwick With Amy Butler & Bill Sweetman in Washington; Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology;
January 21, 2013
F-35 JSF Testers Report Progress, Problems
"...A new tailhook for the CV will undergo its critical design review within a month and is scheduled to be installed in test aircraft at Pax River by yearend. After the F-35C had problems catching the arrester cables, the
hook point, shank and dampers were redesigned. The concept was demonstrated last August [2012] at NAS Lakehurst, N.J., when aircraft CF-3 made five successful engagements, McFarlan says....
...Ground and flights tests have demonstrated that the stealthy F-35s radar signature is meeting design requirements, says McFarlan. We have shown that if the aircraft passes the test in the [anechoic] chamber, it will pass in flight, he says. We are now in the mode of showing we can maintain the [low-observable] characteristics after a year in flight....
...Recent test highlights include hovering the F-35B for 10 min. It was record, hovering at max performance with more than 5,000 pounds of fuel before doing a vertical landing, he says. We have done a lot of night flying to understand the helmet and DAS [distributed aperture system], and done night hovering as well...."