Northrop Grumman Completes Center Fuselage for First F-35 Aircraft to Be Assembled in Japan
October 04 2015 - 9:00PM
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has completed – on budget
and on schedule – the center fuselage for the first F-35 Lightning
II aircraft to be assembled in Japan's F-35 Final Assembly and
Checkout (FACO) facility in Nagoya, Japan. The center fuselage,
designated AX-5, will be integrated into an F-35A conventional
takeoff and landing variant.
Photos accompanying this release are available at:
http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=36672
Northrop Grumman celebrated the production milestone with a
brief ceremony Oct. 2 at its Palmdale Aircraft Integration Center
of Excellence, the site of its F-35 Integrated Assembly Line (IAL).
Consul General of Japan Hidehisa Horinouchi, based in Los Angeles,
attended the ceremony on behalf of the Japanese government along
with executives from Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, the F-35
prime contractor.
"Today's event marks another significant step toward helping the
Department of Defense produce a fifth-generation, multirole fighter
that can meet the common air combat requirements of the U.S. and
its allies," said Brian Chappel, vice president and F-35 program
manager, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "Using our Integrated
Assembly Line, we're continuing to increase the affordability and
quality of the F-35 center fuselage, while steadily increasing our
production rate. Our success is helping the F-35 industry team meet
the operational need dates of our international customers."
The center fuselage is a core structure of the F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter. As a principal member of the F-35 industry team, Northrop
Grumman designed and produces the center fuselage for all three
F-35 variants: the F-35A; the F-35B short takeoff vertical landing
variant; and the F-35C carrier variant.
The AX-5 center fuselage is one of 42 center fuselages that
Northrop Grumman will produce for Japan. It is the 207th center
fuselage that the company has produced at its Palmdale site, and
the 30th such unit delivered this year.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will perform final assembly and
checkout of the Japanese F-35As. The process includes mating the
center fuselage to the forward fuselage/cockpit and wings produced
by Lockheed Martin, and the aft fuselage produced by BAE
Systems.
The IAL is a highly automated set of work cells developed to
assemble – efficiently, affordably and with high precision – the
center fuselage for all three F-35 variants. In 2013, the IAL was
designated the "Assembly Plant of the Year" by Assembly Magazine,
the first and only time to date that this honor has been bestowed
on an aerospace and defense contractor.
Northrop Grumman plays a key role in the development and
production of the F-35 weapons system. In addition to producing the
jet's center fuselage, the company produces its radar,
electro-optical, avionics and communications subsystems. It also
develops mission systems and mission-planning software; develops
and maintains pilot and maintainer training systems courseware; and
manages the team's use, support and maintenance of low-observable
technologies.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing
innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems,
cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and
commercial customers worldwide. Please visit
www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
CONTACT: Brooks McKinney, APR
310-812-4964 office
310-864-3785 mobile
brooks.mckinney@ngc.com
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