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Teamwork leads to record-setting engine test at Arnold

  • Published
  • By Janae' Daniels
  • High Mach Editor
Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. --  The J-2 Test Team here completed all of the customer's mission objectives and set a new record for the longest continuous engine test period (52.5 hours) while testing the F135-PW-100 engine.

The results of this test were critical to the qualification of the engine for the Air Force's new F-35 Lightning II fighter. 

That team comprised of Arnold Engineering Development Center engineers - Air Force and contractors alike - craftsmen, data analysis engineers and investment experts recently conducted both an altitude performance and qualification test on an F135 engine. 

According to Aerospace Testing Alliance's (ATA) Jeremy Morris, J-2 F135 lead project engineer, the entire J-2 test team, which included the 717th Test Squadron, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Joint Programs Office (JPO), ATA and Pratt & Whitney (P&W), more than approximately 50 hours of required mission objectives remained as the engine entered the final week of testing. 

"There were concerns that some of the objectives would be postponed or dropped due to test window constraints presented by the scheduled TEDAC facility outage," Morris said. "The entire test team did a fantastic job of identifying the highest priority objectives, coordinating support, developing a plan, which maximized test efficiency and executing that plan with an amazing level of precision. 

John Kelly, the Air Force manager for the project, said this test was important when looking at the acquisition road map of the whole JSF program. 

"This test was not just on a specific engine, per se, or just the F135 program, but this qualification test affects the whole JSF program," Kelly said. 

This particular test was in support of the Air Force and Navy version of the F135 Conventional Take-Off and Landing variant and Carrier Variant (CTOL/CV) Initial Service Release (ISR) Qualification for the JSF program.