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Northrop Grumman has achieved a significant milestone, delivering its 1,500th centre fuselage for the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter aircraft.
The fuselage, which is the central body of an aircraft, is used across all three variants of the F-35 aircraft and assembled at Northrop’s Integrated Assembly Line (IAL) in California.
Northrop Grumman said its IAL facility produces and delivers one centre fuselage every 30 hours.
“The use of augmented reality and virtual reality tools on the IAL led to a 35 per cent reduction in centre fuselage assembly time and a 20 per cent reduction in technician learning curve,” the company said in a press statement.
The IAL has been operational since 2011 and allowed Northrop Grumman to fulfil their roles and responsibilities as a principal partner on F-35 Lightning II aircraft production for all three variants: the F-35A, F-35B and F-35C, all offering a range of alternating features to meet specific customer needs.
Northrop Grumman additionally produces the AN/APG-81 AESA radar that is the primary integrated communication, navigation and identification system used on the F-35 variants.
