Thales Cryogenics - Programs: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program

programs
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program

Thales Cryogenics has been selected as one of the suppliers of Stirling coolers to the Northrop Grumman F-35 JSF EO DAS program. Specifically for this program, Thales Cryogenics has developed a high reliable compact Stirling cooler.

For the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase of the Joint Strike Fighter Program, Thales Cryogenics is part of a team led by Northrop Grumman. As a contractor for the Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF, Northrop Grumman is responsible for the development and production of the Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (EO DAS). The EO DAS will be the central system on board of the F-35 for capabilities such as forward-looking infrared (FLIR), infrared search-and-track capability and missile warning.

Thales Cryogenics is one of the suppliers in the SDD phase for the Stirling coolers that are used to cool the EO DAS infrared sensors. Key elements in the JSF program are affordability, reliability and weight efficiency. Specifically for the F-35, Thales Cryogenics has developed a very compact and lightweight highly reliable linear Stirling cooler, which is based on our flexure bearing technology. Moreover, this cooler is able to withstand a broad range of environmental conditions, which are typical in the operation of a fighter aircraft.

Some of the key features of this military cooler are:

Integrated Dewar Cooler Assembly configuration.
SADA ½ " coldfinger.
Mass < 2000 g.
Compressor dimensions (ø x l) 122 x 60 mm.
MTTF > 20000 hours.
Typical cooling power > 1.3 W @ 77 K

During the course of this program phase, Thales Cryogenics will manufacture and deliver 26 systems to be used during the development and testing of the F-35. Besides the development and delivery of coolers, Thales Cryogenics also offers integration support of coolers for our JSF partners.

More information concerning our family of LSF series of linear Stirling coolers.

JSF Partners