RAPTOR FIGHTER ARRIVES FOR TESTING AT EDWARDS F/A-22S ARE ASSEMBLED IN GEORGIA.Byline: Daily News EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - The final Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. F/A-22 Raptor built for developmental flight testing was flown to California from the company's facilities in Marietta, Ga. The aircraft will be used in the program's engineering and manufacturing development (EMD EMD Electromechanical dissociation, see there ) phase at Edwards Air Force Base. ``It was extremely satisfying to see Raptor 09 leave Marietta for use by the Combined Test Force at Edwards,'' said Ralph Heath, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics aeronautics: see aerodynamics; airplane; aviation. Co. executive vice president and F/A-22 program general manager. ``With this event, we move one step closer to closing out the program's EMD phase.'' Lockheed Martin and the Air Force are trying to get testing completed in time for Raptors to go into service in 2005. Raptor 4009 will be assigned to the Air Force Operational Test & Evaluation Center detachment detachment /de·tach·ment/ (de-tach´ment) the condition of being separated or disconnected. detachment of retina , retinal detachment at Edwards. It will be used during the program's Dedicated Initial Operational Test & Evaluation phase, scheduled to begin this summer. Four F/A-22s will be flown by pilots to determine whether the F/A-22 is suitable for operational use. An additional F/A-22 will serve as a backup aircraft. Last spring and summer, one of the Raptors was tested in Marietta to see how easy it was to maintain. F/A-22s at Edwards are also completing other tests, Lockheed Martin officials said. Recent tests included the first firing of flares designed to distract heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles, and the first firing of the Raptor's six-barreled, 20 mm rotary cannon. The Raptors are assembled in Marietta. Their low-observable control surface edges, antennas and radomes are built in Palmdale, while the mid- fuselage is built in Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas, 18th-largest city in the United States[1], and voted one of "America’s Most Livable Communities. . Boeing builds the aircraft's aft-fuselage and wings. The Raptors at Edwards last week marked 3,000 hours of flight without an accident. The F/A-22's 3,000th flight hour was completed with two Raptors airborne at the same time. Col. Joseph Lanni, F/A-22 Combined Test Force director, was at the controls of Raptor 4006, during a mission designed to evaluate the F/A-22's avionics avionics (ā'vēŏn`ĭks), electronic instruments used in air or space flight; also the design and production of such instruments. Early planes had few instruments, but as aviation and aircraft became more complex, so did instrumentation. capabilities. Meanwhile, Capt. Christopher ``Moto'' Niemi, one of nine operational test pilots at the CTF CTF Capture The Flag CTF Child Trust Fund (UK) CTF Canadian Tax Foundation CTF Canadian Taxpayers Federation (lobby group) CTF Canadian Television Fund CTF Canadian Teachers' Federation , was airborne on a sortie in Raptor 4005. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) An F/A-22 Raptor piloted by Col. Joseph Lanni flies over Edwards Air Force Base in Lancaster. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion