Improved Boot System to Save F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over $180M

Complex shaped and contoured F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) doors and panels tend to require a larger number of boot details to properly conform to the part. Prior to the installation of the boots, the doors and panels must first be prepared for fastener hole location and drilling where the boots are to be installed. The objective of this Composites Manufacturing Technology Center (CMTC) project was threefold: (1) develop technologies to reduce boot details required per door / panel; (2) develop an Ultrasonic Boot Hole Cutting (UBHC) device; and (3) develop an improved boot adhesive system.

Significant cost reduction for fabricating and installing boots on F-35 doors and panels has been a payoff resulting from this effort. Estimated cost savings is expected to be $187M for all aircraft. The cost savings will largely be the result of reducing the labor associated with fabricating boots, applying and cleaning up the boot adhesive, and cutting holes in the boots once installed.

A successfully demonstrated development effort will be implemented through the F-35 Affordability and/or the Change Request process. The project will return to the Affordability Initiative Review Board for evaluation and implementation funding approval. The project team will submit an add-on effort to finalize the adhesive portions of the project that were unknown at the start of the effort. The project technology is expected to implement in 2016.

*Prepared under ONR Contract xxxxxx-xx-x-xxxx as part of the Navy ManTech Program.

*DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. DCN# xxxx-xxx-xx