This presentation reviews Lockheed’s stealth fighter development from the point of view of a Test Pilot who has flown both the F-117 Nighthawk Attack Aircraft and the F-22 Stealth Fighter. Mr. Brown starts with a basic overview of low observable theory and then applies it to specific aircraft. He presents a brief history of the origins of stealth which leads to the Stealth Fighter program and development of Lockheed’s Have Blue Stealth Demonstrator and the F-117, which he discusses from a pilot’s viewpoint highlighting various features and characteristics of the aircraft. As a follow-on, the F-22 is discussed to show how stealth and other technologies were merged into the world’s most capable fighter aircraft. This briefing illustrates how stealth changes the very nature of aerial warfare and provides a significant force multiplier to operational commanders. Unique features of each aircraft will be illustrated with the addition of trivial tidbits from a pilot’s viewpoint that audiences find interesting.
Jim Brown graduated “With Distinction” from the Virginia Military Institute in 1976 with a BS Degree in Civil Engineering, earned a Master of Science in Management from Troy State University and completed graduate study in Mechanical Engineering with California State University, Fresno. His Air Force career started in May 1977. Following two European tours flying the F-4 and F-5, he was selected to attend the USAF Test Pilot School where he graduated with Class 86A in December of 1986. Following graduation, he tested the A-7, F-15 Eagle, F-117 and F-22. In 1994 he was hired by the Lockheed Skunk Works as an Experimental Test Pilot to fly the F-117 Stealth Fighter. While assigned to the F-117, he tested software, avionics and weapons improvements. Many of these improvements saw service in Operation Joint Endeavor over Bosnia and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the second Gulf War. As the Chief Test Pilot and after flying the Nighthawk for eight years with over 900 flight hours, he went on to test the F-22, eventually becoming the Raptor Chief Test Pilot. In January 2016 he retired from Lockheed Martin and joined the National Test Pilot School as the Chief Operations Officer and Test Pilot Instructor. JB is a Fellow and Past President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and an Eagle of the Flight Test Historical Foundation. He has logged over 9,600 flight hours in 152 different models of aircraft and is the world’s highest time Stealth Fighter pilot.
Directions: Breslin Hall is on the South Campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead. Take Meadowbrook Parkway Exit M4, west onto Hempstead Turnpike (Route 24). After about 1 mile, turn left onto California Ave. opposite the North Campus entrance. After ¼ mile, turn right into a parking lot. Breslin Hall is 0.1 mile ahead, the last building on the right. For directions and campus map: http://www.hofstra.edu/directions