US Marine Corps, MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. — Since the early '90s the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft has been highly anticipated by servicemembers around the world.
In its final years of development, Lockheed-Martin recently called upon ordnance technicians of Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121 to assist with fine-tuning the F-35's ordnance loading system.
The team of ordnance techs, lead by Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Davis, VMFA(AW)-121 ordnance officer-in-charge, consisted of Sgt. Bradley Kirby and Lance Cpls. Christopher Kucera, Jason Deel, Jessica Hutchings and Joshua Quigley. They were tasked by Lockheed-Martin and partners to aid in the development of the weapons bay loading concepts, policies, and procedures at the Northrop Grumman headquarters in El Segundo, Calif.
“I wanted to make this as realistic as possible so I chose Marines who have already worked together as a team,” said Davis.
The team participated in two test sessions, which spanned from Nov. 7-15 and Nov. 28 through Dec. 4. During this time the crew worked side by side with their U.S. and U.K. air force and navy counterparts, practicing loading procedures on the JSF.
Aircraft currently in use by the Marine Corps utilize external hangers for ordnance and the JSF presented a unique challenge for the crew with its internally loaded bay.
“The loading procedures were totally different from those of the F-18. We still used some of the same equipment, but it took a lot longer to load than one of our planes, and we got used to it real quick” said Deel.
After each test was ran, the technicians sat in on focus groups and reviewed the pros and cons of the JSF to ensure the plane is of the highest quality when it is introduced to the fleet.
According to Davis, these tests and reviews were beneficial to the future of Marine Corps aviation ordnance. “Its very rare that you get to test equipment before it goes into production,” he said. “Instead of learning of problems after we get it, we are addressing them now so they can get fixed before production. This will save a lot of wear and tear in the future.”
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