Manufacturing of the centre fuselage for the F-35 Lightning II fighter has entered full-rate production (FRP) at Northrop Grumman’s integrated assembly line (IAL) at Palmdale in California.
The centre fuselage production rate has increased to a production interval (PI) of 1.5 per day, meaning a centre fuselage for any of the three models of the F-35 is produced at the IAL every 1.5 work days.
The rate increase coincides with the delivery of the 400th F-35 centre fuselage to prime contractor Lockheed Martin in May, and the start of production of the 500th centre fuselage in late June.
The commencement of centre fuselage FRP anticipates a decision on F-35 FRP being made by the Pentagon through the JSF Program Office (JPO) in 2020.
