Building on a 20-year history of collaboration, Lockheed Martin recently named Wichita State University and WSU Tech as a tier one collegiate partner institution, emphasizing collaboration with the institution as an Aeronautics Sector Emerging School to bolster the pipeline for future Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical (STEM) careers. 

Wichita State and Lockheed Martin boast a strong history of strategic collaboration. Most recently, for example, is a joint program with the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to build a digital twin of the F-16 Block 40/50. The program will provide unique applied learning opportunities for students while transitioning this capable airframe into 3D digital applications.  

Guided by the technical expertise of the storied Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® team, engineers and student technicians at Wichita State’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) are creating manufacturing quality 3D CAD drawings of each detailed part/system component and assembling them to the air vehicle/full system level. In addition, NIAR will model key sub-system functional and logical interactions and bridge the digital thread to the insertion of automation and robotics in wiring harness modernization and construction.  

The partnership between WSU-NIAR and Skunk Works will provide a high-fidelity digital twin that will reduce sustainment time and cost, address future concerns of parts obsolescence, and train the next generation of engineers and maintainers, all while sustaining or improving the high reliability of this critical fourth-generation fighter jet until retirement. 

“Not only is the digital twin making an impact on mission readiness for the USAF and U.S. Army; it is also creating a talent pipeline through applied learning that is unmatched,” said Brian Hershberger, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Integrated Systems Air Vehicle Lead and WSU graduate. “The project is preparing students to enter the workforce with the skills they need to succeed during the digital transformation of the engineering industry.”

WSU-NIAR and Lockheed Martin began its first internship program in 2017 with the Joint Strike Fighter program. More recently, Lockheed Martin, WSU and WSU Tech hosted more than 200 engineering and business students for an expo at NIAR’s Aircraft Structural Test and Evaluation Center, where two of the USAF’s F-16 Block 40 fighter jets are becoming digitized. The event, coordinated by the Shocker Career Accelerator, focused on educating students about the impact of digital engineering and discussed opportunities for students to obtain employment and gain vital experience in digital engineering while attending WSU and WSU Tech.

The Shocker Career Accelerator conducts talent recruitment and retention through affiliated, collaborative work to grow applied learning opportunities for the students, faculty and employer partners of WSU and WSU Tech.

Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research provides research, testing, certification and training for aviation and manufacturing technologies. Established in 1985, NIAR has a +$190 million annual budget; 975 employees and nearly 1.6 million square feet of laboratory and office space in six locations across the city of Wichita, the Air Capital of the World. NIAR laboratories include Additive Manufacturing, Advanced Coatings, Advanced Manufacturing, Ballistics/Impact Dynamics, Composites/Advanced Materials, Crash Dynamics, Digital Twin, Engineering Design/Modification, Environmental/ Electromagnetic Test, Full-Scale Structural Test, Nondestructive Test, Reverse Engineering, Robotics/Automation, Virtual Engineering, eXtended Reality and the Walter H. Beech Wind Tunnel. 

WSU Tech is the state’s leader in modern technical education offering over 100 degree and certificate options in aviation, healthcare, manufacturing, design, information technology, police science, culinary and business. WSU Tech serves as managing partner of the National Center for Aviation Training (NCAT). NCAT areas of expertise include most facets of general aviation manufacturing, research, engineering, electronics, unmanned aircraft systems, testing, airframe and powerplant maintenance and professional pilot training. In addition to NCAT, WSU Tech operates three other campuses, four additional instructional sites across the greater Wichita area and is embedded in high schools across the area. As a public college, WSU Tech is fully accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a Kansas Board of Regents institution. For more information, visit www.WSUTECH.edu.

Wichita State University serves as the Kansas urban-based research university, enrolling more than 16,000 students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.

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