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227756

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	F-35 Aircraft
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps have been taken to eliminate uncommanded wing drop when manoeuvring the F-35B.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	227873
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The Joint Strike Fighter programme has completed an extensive period of dedicated development flight test to both assess the impact of uncommanded wing drop (called transonic roll off) and mitigate its impact. The results of flight test have been to use a combination of control surface inputs from the leading edge flaps, trailing edge flaps and horizontal tails which have been applied differentially using software driven flight controls when the aircraft is operating at elevated angles of attack in the transonic flight condition.</p><p>It is extremely difficult to totally remove transonic roll from the transonic area of the flight regime, but these changes in the software control laws have lessened its severity and it has been assessed that they are now acceptable by the experienced flight crews that have flown with them. The programme leadership, which includes the UK Ministry of Defence, has concluded that they will allow the aircraft and pilots to execute the mission. The programme will continue to monitor and refine the flight control laws throughout the life of the aircraft as the aircraft's capability develops and if the target set and mission changes.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 25/03/2015 14:34:15 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

227757

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	F-35 Aircraft
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effects of buffeting and transonic roll-off on the ability of (a) the helmet-mounted display systems to display symbology and (b) gyroscopes in the inertial platforms to operate correctly on the Joint Strike Fighter F-35B.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	227874
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The Joint Strike Fighter programme has completed an extensive period of dedicated flight test to assess the impact of buffeting and transonic roll-off on both the helmet mounted display and gyroscopes in the inertial platforms. The conclusion of these flight tests, which have used changes in the flight control laws to mitigate both conditions throughout the flight envelope, is that the helmet mounted display and gyroscopic equipment meet the required performance specification and are fit for purpose to allow pilots to execute the mission. It is only in one area of the flight regime where buffet makes screen symbology difficult to read, and this is at the extremes of the envelope and extremely short lived as the aircraft manoeuvres, it is considered that they can be overcome by pilot training. These flight trials have included UK test pilots who have agreed with the conclusions of the US experts from government and industry.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 25/03/2015 14:36:35 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

227758

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	F-35 Aircraft
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many production Joint Strike Fighter F-35B aircraft have been received by the UK armed forces; and how many of those aircraft have achieved supersonic speeds.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	227875
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The UK has received three F-35B aircraft in the low rate initial production phase. None of the production aircraft have achieved supersonic speeds to date. Although the F-35 design has been tested up to supersonic flight there is currently a flight restriction that prevents this as the aircraft are awaiting modification. There is currently no requirement for the aircraft to achieve supersonic flight in support of the UK's current phase of introduction to service which is focused initial operational test and training activity.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 25/03/2015 14:35:52 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

227761

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	F-35 Aircraft
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the level of susceptibility of the Joint Strike Fighter F-35B to catching fire or exploding due to a lighting strike (a) while flying and (b) on the ground.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	227936
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>The F-35 design has yet to complete its lightning strike testing. Due to this incomplete testing, and the fact that design modifications are planned to meet required levels of performance, a flight restriction has been placed on the aircraft which prevents operation within 25 nautical miles of lightning conditions. This restriction is reduced when the aircraft is on the ground to 10 nautical miles and also uses additional protection measures such as shelters. These restrictions will be lifted once modifications have been embodied and testing completed. The modification and testing is due to be completed ahead of UK Introduction to Service in mid 2016.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 25/03/2015 14:35:14 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson