Lockheed Debuts Revolutionary X-47B Pole Model Design

Source URL: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=17216&rsbci=0&fti=111&ti=0&sc=400
Posted at: http://www.air-attack/com/news/news_article/695

Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] revolutionary full-scale pole model has completed its first round of testing at the Lockheed Martin Helendale Measurement Facility.

The radar cross section testing of the vehicle will continue throughout 2006. Today, Lockheed Martin is using this pole model to provide critically relevant data about the Northrop Grumman Corporation-led X-47B vehicle built for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program.

Lockheed Martin’s full-scale pole model was designed and built in less than 13 months and funded entirely with Lockheed Martin’s Independent Research and Development dollars. What makes it distinct from conventional pole model designs is its modular and flexible configuration, allowing future large scale physical changes. This permits customers to easily modify the many pre-planned regions of the configuration and quickly collect high fidelity data. This means the pole model is now a design tool rather than simply a demonstration device.

“The configuration that we are ultimately targeting was developed by the X-47B team as part of the J-UCAS program. Later in the program components from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Pratt & Whitney will be integrated and tested,” said Frank Alvidrez, Lockheed Martin’s J-UCAS program manager.

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