Northrop Grumman begins full-rate production of F-35 center fuselage
NewsJune 29, 2018
PALMDALE, Calif. Officials at Northrop Grumman got the green light to being full-rate production of the F-35 Lightning II center fuselage. This milestone marks the beginning of a 1.5-day production interval (PI) meaning a center fuselage will be produced every day and a half.
Frank Carus, vice president and F-35 program manager, Northrop Grumman says that the 400th F-35 center fuselage was completed and delivered to Lockheed Martin last month and production of the 500th F-35 center fuselage began last week.
A core structure of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft, the center fuselage is produced on Northrop Grumman's integrated assembly line (IAL) at its Palmdale Aircraft Integration Center of Excellence. In addition to producing the jet's center fuselage and wing skins for the aircraft, the Northrop Grumman develops, produces, and maintains several sensor systems, avionics, mission systems and mission-planning software, pilot and maintainer training systems courseware, electronic warfare simulation test capability, and low-observable technologies.
