PALMDALE, Calif., July 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Northrop Grumman
Corporation (NYSE: NOC) delivered the center fuselage for
Italy's first F-35 Lightning II to
the newly commissioned Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility
at Italy's Cameri Air Base
July 12. This on-time delivery to
Lockheed Martin enables the first assembly of an F-35 aircraft at
the FACO facility and increases international participation on the
F-35 program.
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The center fuselage, AL-1, will be integrated into a
conventional takeoff and landing variant of the F-35, and
represents the first of 90 center fuselage sections that will be
delivered to the Italian FACO facility for Italian aircraft.
"We started working on AL-1 in September
2012, when it was inducted into our Integrated Assembly Line
[IAL] at our Palmdale facility,"
said Michelle Scarpella, vice
president of the F-35 program for Northrop Grumman. "It's the 115th
center fuselage we've completed here in Palmdale, and marks another program milestone,
as we continue to stand up and grow international F-35
participation."
The IAL maximizes robotics and automation, providing additional
assembly capability while meeting engineering tolerances that are
not easily achieved using manual methods. The IAL is central in
producing the F-35's center fuselage as well as increasing the
program's affordability, quality and efficiency. Currently, there
are 35 center fuselages in flow on the IAL, including some for
Australia and additional ones for
Italy; deliveries have already
been made to Ft Worth for final
assembly and delivery to the
Netherlands and the United
Kingdom.
Set on 101 acres in Italy's
Piedmont region, the FACO facility
at Cameri will be one of a kind in Europe. With 22 buildings, more than a million
square feet of covered work space, 11 final assembly workstations –
including four outfitted for electronic mate and assembly – and
five maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade bays, the FACO at
Cameri is positioned to serve as a new hub for the Italian
aerospace industry.
As a principal member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry
team, Northrop Grumman performs a significant share of the work
required to develop and produce the aircraft. In addition to
manufacturing the F-35 center fuselage, Northrop Grumman designed
and produces the aircraft's radar and other key avionics including
electro-optical and communications, navigation and identification
subsystems. Northrop Grumman also develops mission systems and
mission planning software, leads the team's development of pilot
and maintenance training system courseware, and manages the team's
use, support and maintenance of low-observable technologies. In
2012, the company delivered 32 center fuselages and is on track to
exceed 2012 delivery quantities in 2013.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing
innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems,
cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and
commercial customers worldwide. Please visit
www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
SOURCE Northrop Grumman Corporation