Skunk Works ..... 75° compleanno .....

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Da AW&ST ..... una raccolta di articoli dedicati alla pluridecennale attività degli 'Skunk Works' .....

..... "Black Magic - 75 Years of the Skunk Works" .....

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La pagina che LM dedica agli 'Skunk Works' in occasione del 75° anniversario .....

..... https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/wh ... works.html .....

Il commento apparso sul sito dell' AFA .....

..... "Skunk Works Celebrates 75th Anniversary and a Full Parking Lot" .....
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Skunk Works ..... alle origini del programma JSF .....

In 1986, a team of Lockheed engineers at the Skunk Works gathered around a board to invent what became the F-35 Lightning II.
At the time, of course, these engineers had no idea that the fruit of their brainstorming would lead to a contract award 15 years later for the most expensive weapons system in history.
Back then, their brief from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency looked to be impossible.
For decades, militaries across the globe had ambitions to develop a fighter that could operate without a runway.
The only viable contender to emerge was the British Aerospace Harrier, later adapted for the US market in collaboration with McDonnell Douglas.
But DARPA had raised the bar: could the Skunk Works design a vertical/short take-off and landing fighter that was as fast as an F-16 and as stealthy as an F-117?
Despite several attempts, nobody had developed a supersonic contender, much less one that was also invisible to radar.
But DARPA had come to the right place.
In keeping with Skunk Works tradition, the team led by Paul Bevilacqua took a lateral approach to solving the problem.
As recounted in a 2009 paper by Bevilacqua in the Journal of Aircraft (*), the team used a design method known as forced associations.

Fonte: flightglobal.com ..... "OPINION: Johnson's Skunk Works legacy is in safe hands" .....

(*) ..... la relazione dell' Ing. Bevilacqua (sotto forma di PDF che, purtroppo, non sono in grado di linkare) è reperibile nel sito ... http://www.f-16.net/ ... scrivendo nella finestra di ricerca Genesis of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter .....
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Agli Skunk Works non mancherà di certo il lavoro ...

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works advanced development division opened a new 215,000-square foot production facility Aug. 10, allowing reporters and visitors a glimpse inside the state-of-the-art factory before it begins production of classified systems and is likely permanently closed to non-cleared personnel.
What will be built here first is a secret, but Skunk Works Vice President and General Manager Jeff Babione said he anticipates the facility - at the Air Force’s sprawling Plant 42 complex - will build fighters; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft; hypersonic missiles; and other advanced projects, with possibly more than one project in series production at a time.
He declined to say specifically whether Lockheed will build Next-Generation Air Dominance fighters at the plant.

… airforcemag.com … New Skunk Works Plant to Build Advanced Fighters, Other Projects …

Anche qui … news.lockheedmartin.com … Lockheed Martin Unveils Intelligent, Flexible Factory At The Skunk Works® In Palmdale, California …