Lockheed Martin X-35 - Design

Design

Elements of the F-35 design were pioneered by the F-22 Raptor. In June 1994, Lockheed, which had merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin, revealed that it had entered into a collaborative relationship with Yakovlev on their bid for the Joint Advanced Strike Technology competition, consisting of the purchase of design data from the Russian company; according to Jane's All the World's Aircraft 2000-2001 this was data from the cancelled Yak-141 program which employed a similar propulsion system. Although helmet-mounted display systems have already been integrated into some fourth-generation fighters such as the JAS 39 Gripen, the F-35 will be the first modern combat aircraft in which helmet-mounted displays will replace a head-up display altogether.

Instead of lift engines or rotating nozzles on the engine fan like the Harrier, the F-35B uses an innovative shaft-driven Lift Fan, patented by Lockheed Martin employee Paul Bevilaqua, and developed by Rolls-Royce. Somewhat like a turboprop embedded into the fuselage, engine shaft power is diverted forward via a clutch-and-bevel gearbox to a vertically mounted, contra-rotating lift fan located forward of the main engine in the center of the aircraft. Bypass air from the cruise engine turbofan exhausts through a pair of roll-post nozzles in the wings on either side of the fuselage, while the lift fan balances the vectoring cruise nozzle at the tail. The F-35B powerplant effectively acts as a flow multiplier, much as a turbofan achieves efficiencies by moving unburned air at a lower velocity, and getting the same effect as the Harrier's huge, but supersonically impractical main fan. Like lift engines, this added machinery is dead weight during flight, but increased lifting power increases takeoff payload by even more. The cool fan also reduces the harmful effects of hot, high-velocity air which can harm runway pavement or an aircraft carrier deck. Though risky and complicated, it was made to work to the satisfaction of DOD officials.

During concept definition, two Lockheed airframes were flight-tested: the Lockheed X-35A (which was later converted into the X-35B), and the larger-winged X-35C. Both the Boeing X-32 and X-35 power plants were derived from Pratt & Whitney's F119, with the STOVL variant of the latter incorporating a Rolls-Royce Lift Fan module.