EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) (June. 4 1999) --The first block of advanced flight-test avionics for America's next fighter aircraft, the F-22 Raptor, was delivered May 26, two days ahead of schedule, to the plane's contractor Lockheed Martin.

The avionics package, Block 1.1, represents 80 percent of the final hardware configuration. Once installed, the full configuration will give the F-22, managed by Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, capabilities unmatched by any other fighter aircraft.

Delivery of avionics Block 1.1, by team partner Boeing, will support "power on" requirements for aircraft 4004, the fourth F-22 off the assembly line and the first with the Raptor's advanced avionics installed. Power-on requirements refer to turning on the aircraft with its integrated avionics and subsystems in place. The avionics and subsystems in the first three F-22s were not integrated, as they will be in the final aircraft configuration.

The Block 1.1 avionics package includes stores management; vehicle management system; utilities and subsystems; radar; inertial reference system; pilot vehicle interface; and cockpit-display software.

A follow-on avionics package, Block 1.2, will be delivered in January, and will support 4004 taxi and first-flight testing. The aircraft is scheduled to make its first flight in 2000.

Along with the ability to supercruise -- sustaining more than one and a half times the speed of sound without using fuel-guzzling afterburners -- and low observable, stealth characteristics, the F-22's advanced avionics make the Raptor a revolutionary aircraft, giving it first-look, first-shoot, first-kill capabilities, which program managers say are critical to maintaining air superiority in the next century.

"Delivery of Block 1.1 represents a critical step that demonstrates our ability to deliver the heart of the F-22's avionics on schedule and ahead of need dates," said Gerry Freisthler, deputy director for the F-22 program office here. "Getting 4004 in the air will go a long way to proving system maturity."

Before delivery of Block 1.1, Boeing completed more than 9,000 hours of testing in its avionics integration laboratory. In addition to testing in the laboratory, the integrated avionics also have been tested aboard the company's 757 flying test bed. The test bed helps reduce avionics development costs and risks by enabling extensive evaluation and troubleshooting before full avionics are installed on the F-22.

Bruce Ammerman, F-22 avionics laboratories manager for Boeing, noted that the avionics delivery is an important milestone, the result of an outstanding team effort.

"This avionics package includes 80 percent of the final F-22 hardware configuration and more than 900,000 lines of code," he said. "To put it in perspective, that's about half of all the software that will be delivered to the final F-22 during the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program. It was a huge task, and we couldn't have accomplished it without the excellent work of our F-22 teammates and suppliers."

After Block 1.2 delivery, the next critical avionics milestone is delivery of Block 3S avionics, which will provide additional functionality to aircraft 4004 and allow it to accomplish a significant amount of flight testing. Block 3S is scheduled to be delivered in June 2000.

Boeing is teamed with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney to design and build the F-22 Raptor as a replacement for the F-15. (Article courtesy US Air Force News)