Boeing

The Boeing Company, along with the rest of the F-22 program team, is celebrating a major milestone marking the Nov. 21 delivery of the F-22 advanced avionics software package to Lockheed Martin for installation on aircraft 4005.

Completion of the software, called Block 3.0, helps keep the F-22 program on track to meet the Department of Defense (DoD) requirement to fly Block 3.0 software on an F-22 aircraft by the end of the year - one of several criteria that must be accomplished before the DoD authorizes the U.S. Air Force to award the initial production contracts for the fighter.

Block 3.0 has increased sensor-fusion capability and adds weapons-delivery capability to the F-22's integrated avionics.

"Block 3.0 will allow us to demonstrate state-of-the-art, multi-sensor information fusion in a weapon system," said Bob Barnes, Boeing F-22 program manager.

"The software allows the pilot to operate in battle conditions without the burden of managing individual sensors, thereby dramatically improving situational awareness and improving the lethal performance of the pilot and fighter," said Barnes.

The Block 3.0 system consists of avionics hardware and software produced by F-22 team members Lockheed Martin, Boeing and other key suppliers. The team has been testing the Raptor's avionics packages in Seattle at both the Avionics Integration Lab (AIL), since 1998, and on the Flying Test Bed (FTB) since March 1999.

Both the AIL and FTB are helping reduce avionics risks and contain development costs by enabling extensive evaluation and troubleshooting before full avionics are installed on the F-22.

Boeing is teamed with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney to design and build the F-22 Raptor for the U.S. Air Force. Boeing supplies the F-22's wings, aft fuselage, radar system, common power supplies, mission software, avionics integration and testing, as well as training and life-support systems. A joint venture between Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, under contract to Boeing, is developing, testing and manufacturing the radar system.

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