TRW Chosen to Provide Weapons Bay Door Drive System On Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter

26 July 2000

TRW Chosen to Provide Weapons Bay Door Drive System On Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter

    FARNBOROUGH, England - TRW Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector, El Segundo, Calif., have signed a memorandum of agreement yesterday at the Farnborough International Air Show for TRW Aeronautical Systems (Lucas Aerospace) to provide the weapons bay door drive system for The Lockheed Martin Team Joint Strike Fighter variant. With current market projections for the JSF expected to exceed 3,000 aircraft, the potential value of the award to TRW Aeronautical Systems, including prototype and production hardware, is expected to exceed $600 million over the life of the program.

    "This award capitalizes on our strong rotary actuation system capability currently being used in civil and military aircraft flight controls all over the world," said Ken Maciver, Executive Vice President of TRW Inc. and General Manager, TRW Aeronautical Systems.

    Northrop Grumman, a principal member of the Lockheed Martin JSF team, is responsible for integration of the center fuselage and weapons bay door drive system as part of its work share.

    Internal weapons carriage is a feature of modern stealthy aircraft and the weapons bay door drive system is a key weapon-systems enabling technology. The weapons bay door drive system, which operates in an environment of supersonic and subsonic speeds, consists of hydraulic motors driving through a gearbox and torque shafts to rotary-geared actuators that open the weapons bay doors. There are two weapons bays per aircraft with two doors per bay.

    "We are pleased to have been selected following a detailed system maturation phase and a well-managed, extremely competitive award process," said Dave Goldney, Business Development Manager, Military Equipment. "We have the right team with the right technology and an absolute focus on affordability, everything required to be a successful member of The Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter team."

    TRW Aeronautical Systems is actively involved in the development of advanced systems and equipment for application on the JSF program in the areas of engine actuation systems and associated controls, flight control actuation systems and controls, and power transmission systems.

    TRW Aeronautical Systems (Lucas Aerospace) provides the global aerospace industry with high integrity systems and equipment in engine controls, flight controls, missile systems, power generation and management, cargo handling, hoists and winches, and flexible shafts and couplings, all backed by a worldwide customer support organization.

    TRW Inc. provides high-technology products and services to the automotive, aerospace and information technology markets worldwide.