FHL meets JSF equipment test challenges

FHL, a division of the UK Claverham Group and a member of the Boeing Joint Strike Fighter One Team, has now successfully completed over 300 hours of vibration testing on actuators for the Boeing Concept Demonstration Aircraft (CDA) programme for JSF.

So far, nearly 4,000 hours of qualification testing have been conducted on actuators for the attitude control and lift systems for Boeing's X-32B STOVL variant aircraft, designed for service with both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, as well as the US Marine Corps.

FHL has a contract to supply a suite of actuators incorporating its third generation Direct Drive Valve (DDV) system for the X-32B and will be delivering a total of 80 actuators to fellow 'One Team' member Rolls-Royce.

Apart from the vibration testing, FHL engineers also tested components in temperatures ranging from -300C to + 1 600C to recreate normal flight conditions, and subjected them to a five minute fire hardening test at 20000F to simulate an in-flight fire.

FHL Managing Director Alan Bean explained the challenges that have faced his team on the project, "It's been an exacting challenge and there are still a few hurdles to clear, but we have been able to supply a standardised DDV system which provides state-of-the-art performance over its working range. This is only possible due to the meticulous attention to detail designs and process controls that our team has displayed."

FHL is due to complete qualification work in August, with deliveries of flight control systems due to be completed in October.

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