The first Japanese-built F-35 started the mating process early Tuesday when its wings, fuselage and tails joined together for the first time to form the aircraft’s structure, according to a statement by F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT].
The aircraft, a conventional F-35A variant designated AX-5, will complete its assembly in the electronic mate and assembly station (EMAS) and roll out of the factory for delivery in 2017. Company spokesman Eric Schnaible said Tuesday AX-5’s first components were loaded at the Japanese first assembly and checkout (FACO) facility in Nagoya on Tuesday.
Schnaible said the first four Japan F-35As, aircraft AX-1 through AX-4, are in the late stages of component assembly; including wing, forward and center; at Lockheed Martin’s F-35 facility in Fort Worth, Texas. AX-1, he said, is scheduled for mating in January and that Lockheed Martin expects AX-1 to be delivered in October 2016, followed by AX-3 in November 2016 and AX-4 in December 2016.
The remaining 38 F-35As in Japan’s foreign military sale (FMS) 42 aircraft program of record will be assembled and delivered in country from the Nagoya FACO, where the first mating also took place. Lockheed Martin said it is working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to complete the Nagoya facilities and install the remaining equipment and tooling required to assemble and deliver F-35A aircraft from the Japan assembly line. Lockheed Martin is also providing technical assistance and workforce training.
Schnaible said the mating process takes approximately 45 “manufacturing days” and that there are roughly 20 manufacturing days in a calendar month. The mate process, he said, takes place in the electronic mate and assembly station (EMAS), where the forward fuselages, wings, center fuselages and aft fuselages are structurally mated together, systems tied together and landing gear installed. Schnaible said EMAS is the beginning of the FACO process.
The F-35 program also has a FACO in Italy, which completes its first EMAS mate for Italian aircraft AL-1 in 2013, Schnaible said. AL-1 was delivered this month (Defense Daily, Dec. 4).