http://www.edwards.af.mil/News/Article/1192651/f-22-flying-test-bed-is-tip-of-the-spear-for-raptor-mission-systems/



EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --
From time to time, the F-22 Raptor Combined Test Force at the 411th Flight Test Squadron gets a visit from an old friend.

A highly modified and instrumented Boeing 757 called the F-22 Flying Test Bed is an F-22 avionics laboratory. The experimental FTB is the very first Boeing 757 ever produced and has been retrofitted in order to perform flight test of F-22 avionics and sensors in an open-air, operationally representative environment.

The FTB routinely flies with real F-22 Raptors both at Edwards and Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in order to gain an early look at F-22 mission software before the software is released to developmental flight testers, mainly at Edwards.

The FTB visited earlier in the month to examine the F-22 Raptor program’s upgraded mission software.

“This particular FTB deployment provided an excellent training opportunity for the FTB test team, as well as members of the F-22 CTF, while reducing risk to the F-22 3.2B (software) program by allowing us to have an early look at some prototype mission software planned for the final 3.2B software delivery,” said Rachel Kitzmann, Boeing Agile Integration Laboratory F-22 lead test director. “Our F-22 mission equipment is completely segregated from the 757 flight controls, so we can fly with prototype software that has not gone through a formal Equipment Operational Flight Clearance process. This allows us to have an early look at developmental software and problem fixes prior to release to the 411 Flight Test Squadron here at Edwards.”

Kitzmann added the FTB has the ability to change software loads real-time during flight, which allows the test team to test multiple configurations during early developmental testing. The fact that all of the mission equipment is housed in a 757 means that Boeing test engineers, F-22 test pilots and other F-22 customer representatives can be present on board and witness the flight test in real time. Additionally, the 757 can fly approximately a seven-hour sortie, which is far longer than a typical F-22 flight test mission, she said.

“The FTB saves money and reduces the F-22 modernization timeline,” said Kevin Sullivan, 411th FLTS F-22 avionics lead. “It provides risk reduction because it’s easier to fly, fix, fly more quickly instead of having software certified and loaded into an actual F-22. It allows us to look at the avionics software in an F-22 representative hardware and software environment and is capable of acting like an F-22, which can integrate with our F-22s here during test sorties.”

When not in flight, the FTB is connected to Boeing’s Agile Integration Ground Laboratory, which allows the company to add additional hardware, instrumentation and test equipment in order to perform system-level integration and development testing of the F-22 mission systems. The F-22 FTB has a unique wing above the flight deck that houses the same sensors as on a Raptor.

Kitzmann said this last mission to Edwards was the final flight the FTB took out of Boeing Field in Washington where it had been based since 1999. After leaving Edwards May 5, the FTB headed to its new home in St. Louis, Missouri.

Huh.  I had no idea.
Another cool thread OP, thanks

I'm guessing the canards aren't to make the 757 more maneuverable but to mimic the size of the F-22 or at least its wingspan in relation to the nose cone and radar?

The F-22 FTB has a unique wing above the flight deck that houses the same sensors as on a Raptor.

The habitual brilliance and demonstrated creativity shown by aeronautical engineers never ceases to amaze me.

Has anybody told Dale Brown about this?

So Boing is still developing flight control software for a plane that has been discontinued, we don't have enough of,
and cannot get more of.
How long has the F22 been around ? A Washington built plane - is it using Washington-built software ? (Win 10 or XP, or 3.11)?

Sounds like there is some .gov funding involved.

Ha ha ha ha.

Attached File



T-757-22

Your post makes no sense.

It's spelled BOEING.

Yes, development of mature combat systems continues long after the aircraft has been built.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1993811_Boeing-Begins-Work-on-Next-F-15-Software-Load---Unpossible--only-the-F-35-needs-new-software.html

Using Google will tell you how long the F-22 has been around - Google, it's a motherfucker.

What plane are you calling a Washington built plane?
The 757? Guilty as charged.
The F-22? Massive fail.

Well, yes, since the F-22 is owned by the GOVERNMENT one would expect that development of the plane would be funded by the government.

Your post is full of fail and aids.  

We get flight control, systems and navigation updates on our commercial aircraft as well. Hell sometimes that is all screwed up and causes delays. (Pfds blanking, autopilots disagreeing, lights and warnings going on when there are none...) all aircraft are constantly being upgraded and improved. An original 1998 737-800 is not the same as a new 2017 737-800. Even the basic aircraft structure can be changed as the manufacturer finds issues (thicker skins, removal of Chem mills, etc.).  Boeing will go both ways on improving design and finding ways to cheapen things that cause issues. 

When a new bug shows up in flight control software it is a lot easier to figure it out, patch it, and test it with a 'test bed' instead of an the actual plane.

You can have all sorts of operators, monitors, and test equipment available.

At one point we had to install cameras in a plane to record the Radar Warning Receiver display since the system did not have a way to access a down-link and only a single pilot.

We discovered some things that the pilots had not even reported.

They blinked across the screen to quickly.

A few SW mods made them more persistent.

Testing flight systems against new threats has been a PITA for many aircraft.

How many missiles can it carry?

Isn't that test plane around 20 years old? I remember seeing pics of it when the F22 was still a prototype

Holy fuck...Google much?

"The experimental FTB is the very first Boeing 757 ever produced".

The prototype 757, N757A, rolled out of the Renton factory on January 13, 1982.
It was modified in 1998 as the F-22 FTB.
The first F-22 flew on 7 September 1997.

And you failed to point out that the flying test bed is NOT about flight control software.  

Ummm....

“Our F-22 mission equipment is completely segregated from the 757 flight controls, so we can fly with prototype software that has not gone through a formal Equipment Operational Flight Clearance process.
This allows us to have an early look at developmental software and problem fixes prior to release to the 411 Flight Test Squadron here at Edwards.”

While the FTB does not develop actual flight control software it does allow the development of software that could and would affect the flight controls if it were being developed and tested in an actual F-22.

Still all about avionics and sensor software development, not flight control software development.

It is very common to see old airliners converted into flying test beds for various things. Usually early and/or unpopular models.

This, for example, is Honeywell's 757, an '83 model:



It's usually parked about 1/2way down the north runway at Phoenix Sky Harbor.

Ya that thing been around a while. I don't know about it's base of ops in the article but from 2001 till 2010 every shuttle landing I went to Edwards for it was there.

That was allied signalxs when I was there for training around '96.

I thought I'd seen that plane before.  I was there when it rolled out of Renton way back in 1982.

It actually wasn't, that was a Boeing 720B (basically a shortened 707). Those used to be really popular as testbeds because they had a lot of thrust. But they got expensive to maintain due to age.

Honeywell scrapped the 720 in 2008 and replaced it with the 757.

What you saw was this:

I'm feeling old now
I can remember they used a catering service truck pulled up to the engine with a canopy over it for doing engine work.

In before the F-35 loses a dogfight to a 757 and arfcom collectively explodes.  

Yup.  When I worked for GE Aircraft Engines, we used an old Boeing 707 as a flying test bed.  Test engine was mounted in the #2 position with the original P&W screamers in the other three.

Just because we finished making something doesn't mean we aren't still improving it.

With that mindset, we should just let our B-52 fleet (or any other aircraft) fall apart by not maintaining, upgrading, and keeping it relevant?

LOL

Welcome to 17 years ago.

Or like the very first 767: converted to the Airborne Optical Adjunct (AOA) program back in the mid-80's.  It was eventually scrapped a while ago though.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems//aoa.htm

The 757 is taller, so it's on a lift now.