TECHINCAL DESCRIPTION OF F135

All modern aircraft rely on the jet engine to perform at such high speeds. The first operational jet engine, the Junkers Juno 004 was designed by the Germans during World War II ( Anon, 2020). It had a lifetime of only 18 hours due to the lack of heat resistant materials of the time (Anon, 2020). This engine is the father of all modern jet engines. The F135 Engine designed by Pratt & Whitney is the next step in the engine design.  The F135 engine which powers Lockheed Martian F-35 Lightning II is an extremely versatile engine, that is used in all three variants of the F35 (Dobbi, 2015). 

Most planes of World War I were biplanes and were flown using the propellers. As the world progressed ended technological developments changed airplanes forever. One important innovation was an all-aluminum airframe, also the structure of aircraft changed from biplane to just a single wing (Doe, 2016) .As mankind’s understanding of aerodynamics increased the limiting factor in aircraft speed was not the structure but the engine itself.

The key limiting factor of propellers lays in the aerodynamics of the propeller itself. It is obvious to anyone that propellers operate at a faster velocity than the aircraft itself. As the aircraft designers of the 1930’s and 40’s attempted to increase the speed of propellers and thereby increase the speed of the aircraft they found a problem. As the propellers and the aircraft approached the speed of sound, shockwaves formed on the aircraft, and caused instabilities during flight, this was the cause of the famous “sound barrier” (Anderson Jr, 1975).

Several technological innovations in aircraft design allowed us to overcome the sound barrier in 1947, and one them was the invention of the jet engine. The Jet Engine was invented separately by both Hans von Ohain in Germany and Frank Whittle in the UK (Stanford, 2004). Jet Engine rely on a different way mechanism for producing thrust. In the most basic terms, a jet engine produces thrust by taking in the cold air around it, burning fuel in the a combustion chamber to heat the air, and gaining thrust as the hot air now has a higher velocity and this moves the engine.

After the end of World War II, a few companies in the United States and Europe began exploring the possibilities of VTOL aircraft. VTOL stands for Vertical Takeoff And Landing . (Dobbi, 2015). To the untrained eye one cannot understand why countries would pour millions of dollars in developing this technology, but it makes sense from a military perspective. Imagine a scenario, in which Russia attacked NATO forces in the Baltics and Poland, overrunning NATO airbases and supply lines. Yes, we can respond with normal aircraft, but just imagine that those airbases were destroyed with tactical nuclear weapons. In this scenario, these jets would allow us to launch from anywhere like in forests, your local Walmart parking area, etc. 

Major progress on VTOL aircraft has made incredible progress since the 1960’s, beginning with the British Harrier Jump Jet (Dobbi, 2015) .The Soviets also made major contributions to the field with Yak-38 and the Yak-41 (Roblin, 2017). During the 1990’s the United States selected the Lockheed Corporation to build America’s new fighter jet, the F35(Dobbi, 2015).

List of Parts and Functions

1. The engine itself is a pretty typical jet engine. It was built by Pratt & Whitney, a company that builds a lot of military engines for the US. The turbine of the engine is connected to the shaft the fan of the engine. This turbine is responsible for powering the fan, the fan provides the aircraft with is VTOL abilities. What’s most impressive about this engine is that it’s able to power the fan in the aircraft and it’s still able to operate at max 2.2. This is what makes the F35 such a powerful aircraft, to date the United States F35 is the only operational VTOL aircraft that operates at supersonic speeds.

1. The combustion chamber is where the fuel is injected into the aircraft and where the fuel and air is accelerated by the high temperatures. This stage of the engine typically uses advanced materials like superalloys, composites (Pearsons, 2014).
2. The intake of the jet engine takes the low pressure, cold air and changes it into high pressure air. The way this achieved is using a shape known as an airfoil. These airfoil like shapes are able to take the low pressure air and create a high pressure region on the top of the airfoil, after this is done 40 or 50 times, this creates a very high pressure before the air enters the combustion area.

Works Citied:

[1]. Parsons, D. (2014, September 3). Pratt & Whitney sues supplier of titanium used in F-35 engines. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from https://www.flightglobal.com/pratt-and-whitney-sues-supplier-of-titanium-used-in-f-35-engines/114368.article

[2]. Doddi, A. (2015). Vertical Take off and Landing. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from https://www.colorado.edu/faculty/kantha/sites/default/files/attached-files/158128-154174_-_abhiram_doddi_-_dec_13_2016_228_pm_-_doddi_report.pdf

[3]. Anderson Jr, John D. “Research in Supersonic Flight and the Breaking of the Sound Barrier.” Nasa.Gov, 1975, history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter3.html

[4]. Roblin, S. (2017, February 5). Russia’s Yak-38 Fighter: The Failed Jump Jet That Helped Inspire the F-35? National Interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-yak-38-fighter-the-failed-jump-jet-helped-inspire-19320

 [5]. Axe, D. (2016, July 12). Did Russia’s New Radar Just Make America’s Lethal Stealth Fighters Obsolete? National Interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/did-russias-new-radar-just-make-americas-lethal-stealth-16936

 [6]. Doe J. (2016, February 8). History of Aluminum in the Aerospace Industry. Retrieved from https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/history-of-aluminum-in-the-aerospace-industry/

[7]. Junkers Jumo 004. (2020, March 31). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Jumo_004

[8]. Stanford (2004, March 4) The Development of Jet Engines during the War. Retrieved from https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/ww2/projects/jet-airplanes/planes.html

  Conclusion

The F135 is the new advanced engine of the American military. With the addition of this engine, America will be able to expand its power projection across the globe. The F35 also has a positive economic impact; across the United States jobs are being created and our allies are also buying this aircraft. The F35 once again reinforces our nation’s position as the dominant leader in science and technology.