Lockheed Aircraft Research Paper

Airplanes have been around for hundreds of years in the form of gliders and until 1903 when the first powered plane, flew by the Wright Brothers, powered flight was just an imagination. There have been many pioneers in the early forms of aviation such as Orville and Wilbur Wright, Amelia Earhart, and Howard Hughes who were all important in their own ways, whether it be an invention like the Wright Brothers or showing the possibilities of aircraft and breaking records like Amelia Earhart or founding a big company like Howard Hughes. Although there have been many companies to focus on only developing and building aircraft, Allan Haines Lougheed and his company which later became the modern day Lockheed Martin not only focus on aircraft, but on

Certain development groups at Lockheed are the the Lockheed Aeronautics, Missile and Fire control, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, and Skunk Works. Lockheed Aeronautics is one of the largest units at Lockheed Martin and is where they have came up with some of the greatest aircraft in history, such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor, C-130 Hercules, F-117 Nighthawk, and the U-2 Reconnaissance Plane. The Lockheed Missile and Fire control creates many type of missile, rocket, missile launcher, or anti-tank weapons used today. Some of the missiles and missile launchers used today by the military that were created or taken over by Lockheed Martin are the FGM-148 Javelin, which was surprisingly first built by Texas Instruments, the HIMARS which is a mobile rocket system mounted on a truck, and the THAAD system which can shoot down enemy ballistic missiles once they are detected. Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works program is the head of their research and development program which has created a few of the most advanced technology pieces in history. The Skunkworks team was the team that created the iconic SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane, which holds the record for the fastest piloted plane flying at 2,193 MPH, or nearly Mach 3. Another iconic plane built by

The F-22 is the outcome of many years of developing aircraft and weaponry and finding new ways to push the limits of aviation, which none would have been possible without Allan and his Model G seaplane. Lockheed Martin’s F-22 allows the pilot to strategically get behind enemy lines without being detected and the F-22 can fly at over Mach 1 without using afterburners which helps improve combat range by decreasing fuel consumption. The F-22 had its first flight on September 7, 1997 but was not introduced for military use until December 15, 2005 but it is still in use today as one of the most advanced fighters ever built. Perhaps the biggest breakthrough of the F-22 and the whole program was the development of the radar-absorbing skin that makes the plane harder to track on radar. The job of painting the stealth skin on an F-22 is very important because according to Tyndall AFB, “ If a spot of paint is missed on a house, it is highly unlikely it will get blown up.” The F-22 has the ability to see an enemy aircraft or specific location well before any for of detection, even human eyes, can detect it. Each F-22 costs 150 million dollars but the fact that a pilot in an F-22 can conduct long range bombing missions, reconnaissance from the 65,000 foot ceiling, it can provide close air support for troops, and it