The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 12325,000 UK jobs sustained across more than
500 companies in the supply chain.
BAE Systems has an integral role in the
F-35 integrated test force based in
Patuxent River, Maryland. More than 30 BAE
SYSTEMS’ employees are based there,
including two test pilots, leading the flight
test programme on the F-35B STOVL. The
company designs and manufactures the
rear aft fuselage and horizontal and vertical
tail for all three variants, the wing fold for
the F-35C carrier variant (sub-contracted to
Canada), and the nozzle bay doors for the
F-35B STOVL aircraft. The company
provides the Electronic warfare suite,
Active interceptor systems, Vehicle
management computer and the Electronic
components for the communications,
navigation and identification system. BAE
has design authority on Crew escape, Life
support and the Fuel system.
The company is charged with the
provision of the facilities for the aircraft at
RAF Marham, integration with the Royal
Navy’s new carrier and UK weapons
integration. BAE Systems Australia will
provide a heavy airframe maintenance and
sustainment capability for the global F-35
fleet in the Southern Pacific region.
When it reaches peak rate production
in 2017, the 1,200 workers at BAE Systems’
Samlesbury site will be producing one
aircraft set each day for shipment to
Lockheed Martin’s final assembly plant in
Fort Worth, Texas. This is a scale of
production normally associated with
commercial aircraft manufacture, although
the F-35 is a much more complex and
advanced product. The UK Government
invested £2bn in the F-35 and BAE has
invested £150m in its production
manufacturing facilities at Samlesbury. At
£6.5m for each rear fuselage section it
delivers, BAE will earn £20bn on this alone
if 3,200 F-35s are built.MULTI-NATIONAL F-35
Rear view of RAF F-35B ZM137 hovering,
showing the exhaust rotated downwards.
(Author)F-35 Structural test
An F-35A airframe is undergoing testing in
the BAE Structural and Dynamic Test facility
at Brough. BAE is responsible for carrying
out a large percentage of the structural
and fatigue testing required for all three
F-35 variants.
The airframe which was delivered in
2009 is connected to a highly complex test F-35A airframe
undergoing testing
in the BAE
Structural and
Dynamic Test
facility at BAE
Brough.
(BAE Systems)MULTI-NATIONAL F-35
Rear view of RAF F-35B ZM137 hovering,
showing the exhaust rotated downwards.
(Author)