Pathfinder escribió:No obstante como comenté, la compañía ha aplicado las mejoras a la estructura del F-35B a los lotes posteriores de producción por lo que ya no tendrían dicho problema. El problema reside solo en las muy primeras unidades del F-35-B ( no sé el número exacto, quizás sean apenas un puñado de ellas que han entregado a los Marines).
Ya se comentó en la página 393 de este hilo cuando salió el informe DOT&E. Para refrescar (pág. 19 y 23): https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub ... 115634-877
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Static Structural and Durability Testing
· The program secured funding and contracted to procure another F-35B ground test article, which will have a redesigned wing-carry-through structure that is production representative of Lot 9 and later F-35B aircraft. Testing of this production-representative ground test article will allow the program to certify the life of F-35B design improvements. The production and delivery dates are still to be determined.
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· Teardown inspections of the original F-35B full scale durability test article (BH-1) were completed in October 2018. The program canceled the third lifetime testing of BH-1 due to the significant amount of discoveries, modifications, and repairs to bulkheads and other structures that caused the F-35B test article to no longer be representative of the wing-carry-through structure in production aircraft. The program secured funding and contracted to procure another F-35B ground test article, designated BH-2, which will have a redesigned wing-carry-through structure that is production representative of Lot 9 and later F-35B aircraft.
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A destacar que la nueva estructura, se entiende que viene a partir del Lote 9, por lo que ya se habrían entregado 58, que serían los que tendrían esos problemas de durabilidad: https://twitter.com/clemente3000/status ... 9836298240
Un último apunte:
Pathfinder escribió:Se ha previsto reforzar dichas células para que alcancen las 8000 horas requeridas
Creo incluso con las modificaciones tampoco está previsto llegar a esas horas. También del DOT&E, pero de 2017 (pág. 31):
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· The JPO suspended durability testing for the F-35B after completion of the second lifetime of testing in February 2017; the test article had so many repairs it was no longer representative of the production aircraft. The program has not yet procured another durability test article for the F-35B to begin the third lifetime of testing. The effect of the failures observed and repairs required during the first two lifetimes of testing on the service life certification of the F-35B aircraft is still to be determined. The service life for all three variants is planned to be 8,000 hours, however the F-35B service life may be less than that, even with extensive modifications to strengthen the aircraft already produced.
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