Lockheed Uses Robot Arm To Build F-35s

Manufacturing machines for future fighters

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a super-expensive and technologically complex futuristic fighter. Magellan Aerospace, the Toronto based Lockheed-Martin supplier working on the plane, uses a fancy mechanical arm with a milling tool in their machine shop to make the tails for one variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. Maneuverability is key for milling tools, as they trim excess material away from parts, and need to do it with precision and from the closest angles. America’s next fighter is being built by Canada’s current generation of robots.

Here is the arm, demonstrated again:

No confirmation yet on whether it’s secretly full of writhing cats.

 

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Kelsey D. Atherton Avatar

Kelsey D. Atherton

Contributor, Tech

Kelsey D. Atherton is a military technology journalist who has contributed to Popular Science since 2013. He covers uncrewed robotics and other drones, communications systems, the nuclear enterprise, and the technologies that go into planning, waging, and mitigating war.