{"id":58957,"date":"2023-12-06T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=58957"},"modified":"2023-12-07T19:22:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T19:22:05","slug":"restoring-an-f-35a-lightning-ii-a-collaborative-endeavor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=58957","title":{"rendered":"Restoring an F-35A Lightning II: A collaborative endeavor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

F-35 <\/span>Lightning II maintenance experts at Hill Air Force Base are taking on a seemingly impossible task \u2013 stitching two mishap damaged aircraft together into a restored, fully operational F-35.\u00a0
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Led by the F-35 Joint Program Office, the project requires a \u201cdream team\u201d of uniquely qualified individuals from the JPO, the 388th Fighter Wing, the Ogden Air Logistics Complex and Lockheed Martin.<\/span>\u00a0
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\u201cThis is a first for the F-35 program and a very exciting project,\u201d said Dan Santos, F-35 JPO heavy maintenance manager.<\/span>\u00a0
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After researching the feasibility, the F-35 JPO, working with the 388th Fighter Wing, opted to reconstruct AF-211, an aircraft that encountered a nose landing-gear separation in June 2020.<\/span>\u00a0
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The nose section of this aircraft is being replaced with the undamaged nose from AF-27, an F-35 that experienced a severe engine fire at Eglin AFB, Florida, in 2014, and is now serving as an Air Force Air Battle Damage and Repair trainer at Hill<\/span> AFB.\u00a0
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Over the past several years, the F-35 JPO has sought out new opportunities to repurpose useable parts and systems from damaged F-35 aircraft, for continued use and benefit to F-35 maintenance and operations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Building on experience gained from several recent salvage aircraft re-purpose projects \u2013 including the stand-up of the first F-35 maintainer training facility using salvaged aircraft sections, as well as the partial restoration of a salvaged F-35 airframe for use as an ABDR trainer \u2013 the F-35 JPO is now taking the effort a step further.<\/span>\u00a0
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The F-35 JPO leveraged this newly established network of skilled professionals, resources and facilities, all of which are located at Hill AFB, to undertake the \u201cFranken-bird\u201d project.<\/span>\u00a0
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The Ogden Air Logistics Complex has played a significant role by providing hangar space and heavy equipment for the project, Santos said.<\/span>\u00a0
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\u201cIt takes a team to make these types of endeavors successful,\u201d Santos<\/span> said. \u201cI am very impressed with the collaborative efforts from the various agencies across Hill AFB, working together to make this happen.\u00a0
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Along with Lockheed Martin, the F-35 J<\/span>PO, and the 388th FW, several units in the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, including the 570th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 576th AMS, 809th Maintenance Support Squadron and 309th Expeditionary Depot Maintenance Flight, are among the multiple units providing direct support.\u00a0
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Keith White, 388th FW contracting officer, said while the jet is owned by 388th FW, it\u2019s still part of an F-35 JPO contract, and Lockheed is the contractor responsible for the work.<\/span>\u00a0
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\u201cWork began on the feasibility of this project in January 2020, when the F-35 JPO reached out to us because we had already accomplished the really big damage restoration projects for the F-22,\u201d said Scott Taylor, Lockheed Martin lead mechanical engineer.<\/span>\u00a0
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However, unlike previous projects, Taylor said this initiative stands out due to its meticulous documentation, which will be used to establish standardized F-35 procedures that can be seamlessly integrated into routine operations in the future.<\/span>\u00a0
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\u201cAll of the aircraft sections can be de-mated and re-mated theoretically, but it\u2019s just never been done before,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cThis is the first F-35 \u2018Franken-bird\u2019 to date. This is history.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0
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To complete the work on site at Hill<\/span> AFB, entirely new, unique specialized tooling, fixtures and equipment have been designed and built, specifically adapted for mobility. These have potential future uses abroad.\u00a0
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\u201cWe\u2019ve designed versatile tooling that fits neatly into a <\/span>conex box, making it transportable to various locations, including forward operation areas,\u201d Taylor said.\u00a0
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These new mobile fixtures achieve the same results as large, stationary automated manufacturing jigs at the F-35 plant in Fort Worth, Texas, but with a new approach. The additional capability will benefit the entire F-35 program.<\/span>\u00a0
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“The F-35 program is still young compared to all legacy airframes,\u201d said Dave Myers, F-35 JPO Lightning Support Team lead engineer. \u201cWe are doing this for the first time, and organizationally for the future, we are creating a process we can move forward with.”<\/span>\u00a0
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This project is currently several months ahead of schedule and showing a completion date of March 2025.<\/span>\u00a0
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\u201cNot only will this project return a combat asset back to the warfighter, but it opens the door for repairing future mishap aircraft using tooling, equipment, techniques, and knowledge that has been developed,\u201d Santos<\/span> said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFNS) — \u00a0 F-35 Lightning II maintenance experts at Hill Air Force Base are taking on a seemingly impossible task \u2013 stitching two mishap damaged aircraft together into a restored, fully operational F-35.\u00a0\u00a0Led by the F-35 Joint Program Office, the project requires a \u201cdream team\u201d of uniquely qualified individuals from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":58959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58957"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58960,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58957\/revisions\/58960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}