F-35 composite work earns award

FORT WORTH, Texas - Lockheed Martin, Magestic Systems Inc. and Nikon Metrology jointly won a first-place JEC Innovation Award in composites manufacturing for technology used in the production of the F-35. The 2010 JEC Innovation Award was presented in Paris earlier this month in recognition of the cured laminate compensation process, a composite manufacturing process for achieving precision, as-built laminate thickness without post-cure machining. The new process is used in the production of composite parts for the F-35 and was developed to pre-measure and correct the thickness of cured composite wing skins for the F-35. (Source: PRNewswire, 04/26/10) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is scheduled to become home of the F-35 training center; fabrication and research into advanced materials is a key sector in South Mississippi.