Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
How Air Force maintainers maker sure the F-35 stays a 'stealthy beast'
How Air Force maintainers maker sure the F-35 stays a 'stealthy beast'
Micah Garbarino, US Air ForceNov 1, 2019, 21:30 IST
An F-35 Lightning II demonstration aircraft takes off during the AirPower over Hampton Roads open house at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., April 24, 2016.U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman R. Alex Durbin
Advertisement
The F-35A Lightning II boasts a "low observable" technology that makes it difficult for enemies to detect and track the fifth-generation fighter jet.
But that technology is subject to wear and tear like any other component, and it takes airmen with special skills to keep it working.
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah - How do you make a 51-foot-long, 35-foot-wide fighter jet, with an engine that generates 43,000 pounds of thrust, vanish?
You don't. There's no black magic that exists to make something that big disappear.
The F-35A Lightning II isn't invisible, but it does have a "cloak," which makes it very difficult to detect, track, or target by radar with surface to air missiles or enemy aircraft.
The real term used to describe the cloak is "low observable" technology, and it takes skilled airmen to maintain.
Advertisement
"You can't hit a target if you can't get to it. And you can't get to a target if you get shot down," said Master Sgt. Francis Annett, 388th Maintenance Squadron Fabrication Flight NCOIC. "Because of the LO technology, the F-35A can fly missions most other aircraft cannot. We make sure our airmen understand how important their job is. We teach the 'why' as much as the 'how.'"
Several things combine to provide the F-35A's stealth — the lines and contours of the aircraft's exterior design, the composite panels and parts that make up the body, and the radar absorbent materiel that coats the entire jet.
All of these contribute to deflecting or absorbing enemy radar and, combined with pilots' tactics, help the F-35A survive in enemy air space.
During flight, the exterior paint or coating of any aircraft can get worn down from friction caused by weather, dust, bugs, and the normal movement of flight surfaces.
The F-35A also has several panels that are frequently removed or opened on the flight line for routine maintenance, and there are more than 5,000 fasteners that keep body panels in place. All of these, when worn, can potentially limit the jets stealth capabilities.
The fabrication flight team inspects and evaluates the jets' coatings, seams and panels after each flight, looking for anything that could lead to an increased radar signature, recording any damage and prioritizing repairs across the wing's fleet.
At work in their shop, the LO technicians work in a team, hunched intently over a long table full of composite panels and rubber seals. They wear masks and gloves, and look more like sculptors or painters than fabricators.
The old, heavy equipment used for cutting, pounding, bending and joining sheet metal for F-16 skins, lines the walls behind them, mostly unused. The machines a reminder of the difference between fourth- and fifth-generation technology.
Maintaining this radar absorbent coating on surface of the F-35 is a job that takes very detail-oriented, sometimes tedious work — masking every small area, properly mixing chemicals, applying them precisely, smoothing, and assessing the smallest imperfections. It's time consuming, but it's vital to get it right, Annett said.
"I like that its detail oriented," said Staff Sgt. Brandon Ladson, a low observable journeyman. "All the work that you put in really shows. Any mistake you make, every good thing you do, it all shows in the final product."
The active-duty 388th FW and Air Force Reserve 419th FW are the Air Force's only combat-capable F-35 units, working side-by-side, maintaining the jets in a Total Force partnership that utilizes the strengths of both components.
