Innovator helps make aviation history
STOCKPORT-based tactical military bridge designer and manufacturer WFEL has played a major role in the launch of the F-35 Lightning II which has made aviation history when it took off from a ski jump in the US.
The land-based test was carried on at the WFEL ski jump above the Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland.
It marks the first time that an F-35 Lightning II has taken off from a ski jump. Ski-jump ramps provide an aircraft with an upward flight path, meaning the aircraft can take off from a shorter runway with a heavier payload.
WFEL, a UK company and a global leader in the design and manufacture of tactical military bridges, has played a vital role in the inaugural launch of the F-35 Lightning II, which has made aviation history after it took off from a WFEL ski jump in the US.
The WFEL ski jump – the first of its type to be built anywhere in the world – was designed to replicate the runway of an aircraft carrier, to enable the F-35 to be tested on land before the first shipboard ski jump launch from HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The land-based testing will demonstrate the aircraft’s ability to safely take-off and land, with the US-UK team continuing the first of a multi-phase set of test trials over the course of the summer.
FEL chief executive Ian Wilson said: “We have a strong heritage in applying our specialised design and manufacturing skills to high quality and technically-challenging products. We made a strategic move to apply our engineering expertise to challenges like the ski jump for customers such as the US military, who we’ve been working with since the 1980s.
“The F-35 is one of the most advanced military aircraft ever made and we are proud to support one of our largest customers in achieving aviation history.”
Peter Wilson, the test pilot and ski jump project lead, added: “As expected, the aircraft performed well and I can’t wait until we’re conducting F-35 ski jumps from the deck of the Queen Elizabeth carrier.
“Until then, the de-risking that we’re able to achieve now during phase one of our ski jump testing will equip us with valuable data we’ll use to fuel our phase two efforts.”
The F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, strike fighter that incorporates low-observable (stealth) technologies, defensive avionics, advanced sensor fusion, internal and external weapons, and an advanced prognostic maintenance capability to deliver optimum international security via integrated coalition operations.
