Pratt & Whitney F135 Team Receives STOVL Flight Qualification
Pratt & Whitney received a statement of qualification for the F135 short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) propulsion system from the F-35 Joint Program Office. This statement certifies Pratt & Whitney’s F135-PW-600 STOVL propulsion system for up-and-away flight operations. The F135-PW-600 STOVL propulsion system includes lift system components designed by Rolls-Royce and integrated into the STOVL propulsion system by Pratt & Whitney.
This milestone is one of many recent achievements for Pratt & Whitney’s F135 propulsion system. The F135 has previously completed sea level testing and accelerated mission testing for endurance and durability qualification.
The F135 has exceeded 9,800 test hours in the system development and demonstration ground test program and the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) engine continues to power the F-35 Lightning II flight test program with 40 flights and more than 49 flight test hours to date.
Rated at more than 40,000 pounds of thrust, the F135 is the most powerful fighter engine ever built. The technologically advanced F135 is an evolution of the highly successful F119 engine for the F-22 Raptor. By the time the F-35 enters operation in 2013, the F119 engines will have logged more than 600,000 flight hours and the F135 will have completed more than 16,000 flight hours. These achievements will provide maturity and the associated reliability to the F135 engine.
You must be logged in to post a comment.