The Road to JSF: forty years of UK ASTOVL work and its relevance today

Since 1960 BAE Systems and its predecessor companies have engaged in significant test work in the field of supersonic ASTOVL (advanced short take-off and vertical landing) combat aircraft, in addition to their experience of developing, producing and supporting the Harrier family. This paper seeks to show how this effort has provided deep foundations on which to build their major stake in the JSF project. The paper provides a brief overview of the tests undertaken in the UK over the last five decades, although it concentrates on two periods of major activity, 1960-65 and 1980-89, with a few of the most significant aircraft projects from those periods looked at. It aims not to present the project design work undertaken on ASTOVL aircraft, but rather to show the significance of the research and technology programmes associated with those designs. The knowledge gained from sub-scale and full-scale model tests is looked at, and the impact and use of this knowledge in the JSF assessed.