Lockheed Martin Skunk Works P791 LTA ACLS dynmicpara
kunk Works, an official alias for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs and formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the SR-71, the F-117, and the F-22. Its largest current project is the F-35 JSF (Joint Strike Fighter), which will be used in the air forces of several countries around the world. Production is expected to last for up to four decades.
The roots for the Skunk Works started in Burbank, California when Lockheed was tasked with building a high speed, highly maneuverable fighter to compete with the aircraft coming out of the Messerschmitt factory. Lockheed Model 22 rolled out in December 1938 and had her maiden flight on January 27, 1939. This plane would later be known as the P-38, and would be one of the most successful aircraft in the U.S. military for its time.
Lockheed considers June 1943 the birth month of the Skunk Works known today: The Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) of the Army Air Force met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to express its need for a jet fighter. A rapidly growing German jet threat gave Lockheed an opportunity to develop an airframe around the most powerful jet engine that the allied forces had access to, the British Goblin. Lockheed was chosen to develop the jet because of its past interest in jet development and its previous contracts with the Air Force. One month after the ATSC and Lockheed meeting, a young engineer by the name of Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson and other associate engineers hand delivered the initial XP-80 proposal to the ATSC. Two days later the go-ahead was given to Lockheed to start development and the Skunk Works was born, with Kelly Johnson at the helm. The formal contract for the XP-80 did not arrive at Lockheed until October 16, 1943; some four months after work had already begun. This would prove to be a common practice within the Skunk Works. Many times a customer would come to the Skunk Works with a request and on a handshake the project would begin, no contracts in place, no official submittal process. Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team designed and built the XP-80 in only 143 days, seven less than was specified as the maximum allowed under the contract.[2]
Later, near the end of World War II, Skunk Works was tasked with developing the United States' first operational jet fighter—the P-80 Shooting Star. A small team of engineers led by Kelly Johnson created the first prototype in only 143 days. (Kelly Johnson headed the Skunk Works until 1975. He was succeeded by Ben Rich.)
In 1955, the Skunk Works received a contract to build a spyplane known as the U-2 with the intention of overflying the Soviet Union and photographing sites of strategic interest. The U-2 was tested at Groom Lake in the Nevada desert. The first overflight took place on July 4th 1956. The U-2 ceased overflights when Francis Gary Powers was shot down during a mission on May 1, 1960, while over Russia.
The Skunk Works had predicted that the U-2 had a limited operational life over the Soviet Union. The CIA agreed. The Skunk Works got a contract in late 1959 to build five A-12 aircraft at a cost of $96 million dollars. Building a Mach 3.0 aircraft out of titanium posed enormous difficulties and the first flight did not occur until 1962. Several years later, the U.S. Air Force became interested in the design, and it ordered the SR-71 Blackbird, an improved two-seater version of the A-12. This aircraft first flew in 1966 and remained in service until 1998.
The D-21 drone, similar in design to the Blackbird, was built to overfly China. This drone sat on top of a specially modified A-12, known as M-21, of which there were two built. No D-21s were successfully launched from M-21s, although a few were deployed from B-52s.
After the Cold War ended in 1989, Lockheed reorganized its operations and relocated the Skunk Works to Site 10 at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, where it remains in operation today.
The term "Skunk Works" is a registered trademark of Lockheed Martin; the company also holds several registrations of it with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. They have filed several challenges against registrants of domain names containing variations on the term under anti-cybersquatting policies, and have lost a case under the .uk domain name dispute resolution service against a company selling cannabis seeds and paraphernalia, which used the word "skunkworks" in its domain name (referring to "Skunk", a variety of the cannabis plant). Lockheed Martin claimed the company registered the domain in order to disrupt its business and that consumer confusion might result. The respondent company argued that Lockheed "used its size, resources and financial position to employ 'bullyboy' tactics against
a very small company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sk unk_works
aircraft "UFO" shape Lockheed-Martin "Skunk Works"
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works P791 LTA ACLS dynmicpara
kunk Works, an official alias for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs and formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the SR-71, the F-117, an...
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