An Edwards AFB F-35A Lightning II fires an AIM-120
Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile as part of Weapons Delivery Accuracy
testing. The 461st Flight Test Squadron and F-35 Integrated Test Force
completed WDA testing in early December, which concludes a large and important
part of F-35 developmental test and evaluation. (Courtesy photo by Chad
Bellay/Lockheed Martin)
By Kenji Thuloweit, 412th Test Wing Public Affairs /
Published December 19, 2017
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Testers from the 461st
Flight Test Squadron and F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF) completed a major test
milestone bringing the F-35 Lightning II’s full combat capabilities closer to
the battlefield.
Weapons Delivery Accuracy (WDA) flight tests began in
July 2013 and testing wrapped up earlier this month. The WDA portion of the
F-35 developmental test and evaluation mission ensures the fifth-generation
fighter’s weapons system can deliver lethal ordnance both air-to-air and
air-to-ground using the jet’s warfighting Block 3F software.
The ITF used all three F-35 variants and delivered
air-to-air missiles including AIM-120s, the AIM-9X and the United Kingdom’s
Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile. The WDA tests also confirmed
air-to-ground delivery of the Paveway IV laser-guided bomb, GBU-39 small
diameter bomb, GBU-12, GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition and the AGM-154
Joint Standoff Weapon.
“Weapons delivery accuracy tests are important, because
without proof that the F-35 can actually drop these weapons where we need them
to go, then the F-35 is just an information-gathering system,” said Lt. Col.
Tucker Hamilton, 461st FLTS commander and F-35 ITF director. “The F-35 proved
it was extremely capable in delivering these weapons where we wanted it and how
we wanted it delivered. These are the most complicated and intricate missions
that we had and the jet did extremely well.”
Hamilton said the air-to-air accuracy tests finished in
August with air-to-ground tests ending in October. The F-35 ITF then capped off
WDA tests by completing testing on the F-35’s GAU-22 25mm gun at the beginning
of December. The WDA gun tests included the Air Force’s A variant where the gun
is internal carried and on the Marine Corps’ and Navy’s B and C variants, which
employ a gun pod beneath the jet.
Each weapon test required multiple missions including
software development, “dry runs” and then the actual weapon release. Not
including the gun, Hamilton said the F-35 ITF delivered 55 weapons during WDA
testing, which was mainly done over the military sea range off the California
coast and at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California.
Maj. Jonathan Gilbert, 461st FLTS, completed the final
air-to-ground WDA test as a new test pilot to the F-35 Integrated Test Force.
“I didn't even know it was a milestone, I just knew I was
dropping a weapon,” said Gilbert. “It wasn't until after that I felt the
excitement from the team and the squadron to close out the WDA program. It is a
credit to the team and the planning as it did not appear this would be achievable
in the time the squadron accomplished it in, but yet they were able to complete
it. I just had the pleasure of dropping the last one.”
Hamilton said the F-35 Joint Program Office analyzes the
data from all the WDA tests and any upgrades to the F-35 mission systems
software will be sent out to the F-35 operational fleet.
“When they get their 3F software, the one that is going
to be productionized for full 3F capability, [the fleet] will be confident they
can load these weapons and drop them on the target they’re selecting,” Hamilton
said.
The F-35 Integrated Test Force, operating at both Edwards
AFB and at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, continues to conduct
developmental flight test for the Defense Department’s F-35 Joint Program Office. Ongoing testing at Edwards AFB includes
mission effectiveness testing, suppression of enemy air defenses, maritime
interdiction, and offensive and defensive air-to-air combat testing.
“The ITF takes these extremely challenging and intricate
data requirements and then finds a way to coordinate with multiple outside
agencies, drones, tankers, ranges and basically conduct these missions and make
them happen in a historical manner,” said Hamilton. “No one before them has
ever been able to pull off executing weapons deliveries like the individuals in
the ITF.”
Original post: af.mil
F-35 Lightning II: Details
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