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Lockheed Martin to retrofit cracked F-35B bulkheads

written by australianaviation.com.au | April 11, 2014

Lockheed will retrofit wing-carry through bulkheads to F-35Bs produced up to LRIP 8.(Lockheed Martin)
Lockheed will retrofit wing-carry through bulkheads to F-35Bs produced up to LRIP 8.(Lockheed Martin)

Lockheed Martin will retrofit modified bulkheads to early production F-35Bs after cracking was found in the major structural components during fatigue testing.

Speaking at the US Navy League Sea-Air-Space conference on April 7, RAdm Randy Mahr, deputy program manager with the Pentagon’s F-35 joint program office (JPO) said a redesigned bulkhead would be installed on new-build F-35Bs from LRIP 9 onwards, and that F-35Bs built up to Lot 7 would be retrofitted during scheduled depot maintenance.

“The repair for that bulkhead for the [F-35Bs] that are out there in the fleet is known, it’s understood, and we’ll be retrofitting LRIP Lots 1 through 7,” RAdm Mahr told the conference. “On LRIP Lot 9 and forward, we have the redesign finished. The forgings for that design are already done and are sitting waiting for permission to start machining.”

Some LRIP 8 jets currently in production are already being retrofitted on Lockheed’s Fort Worth production line, while others will be retrofitted prior to delivery.

The redesign comes after an aluminium wing carry-through bulkhead cracked at the 9,000 hour mark of fatigue testing, and had started to spread to an adjacent bulkhead when testing was paused at 9,056 hours. Even though the F-35B is rated for an 8,000 hour fatigue life, it was decided to redesign the bulkhead.

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RAdm Mahr said the retrofit would not affect the US Marine Corps’ planned 2015 intiial operating capability schedule.

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