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Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute


Institut aéronautique et spatial du Canada

CASI Ottawa | Inventing the Joint Strike Fighter

  • June 05, 2025
  • 18:15 - 20:30
  • Carleton University, Nicol Building Room NI3040
  • 24

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  • CMAS Member # required
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CASI Ottawa Branch

Inventing the Joint Strike Fighter

June 5, 2025 | 6:15 - 8:30 PM

A CASI In-person Event


Jointly sponsored by the

Carleton University Faculty of Engineering and Design and CMAS

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Paul Bevilaqua 

Hosts:

Jeff Bird | CASI Ottawa

Omer Majeed | CASI Ottawa


Location:

Carleton University, Nicol Building Room NI3040

Raven Road off University Drive

Ottawa, K1J 9B3 


Parking:

Parking P3 or Parking Garage

Campus Map

Meeting Details:

This presentation will describe the technical and program challenges involved in developing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and show how an innovative idea became an international program with engineers from half a dozen countries developing a single replacement aircraft for multiple aircraft types.


The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was developed to meet the multirole fighter requirements of the U.S. Air Force, Navy,Marine Corps, and our allies. The Air Force variant is a supersonic, single engine stealth fighter. The Navy variant has a larger wing and more robust structure in order to operate from aircraft carriers, while the Marine Corps variant incorporates an innovative propulsion system that can be switched from a turbofan cycle to a turbo shaft cycle for vertical takeoff and landing. This propulsion system enabled the X-35 to become the first aircraft in history to fly at supersonic speeds, hover, and land vertically. The development team won the Collier Trophy, which recognizes “the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America” each year, for this accomplishment. 


6:15 PM - 7:00 PM | Pizza and light refreshments

7:00 PM - 8:30 | Presentation

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Bevilaqua spent most of his career developing vertical take-off and. landing aircraft. He was a chief engineer at Lockheed Martin Skunkworks where he played a major role in creating the Joint Strike Fighter.

From Wikipedia (citations removed): Bevilaqua obtained his Doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics with a focus on Turbulent wakes at Purdue University in 1973. He was also an Air Force Lieutenant at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WP-AFB), where he began professional work in 1971.

He became Deputy Director of the Energy Conversion Lab at WP-AFB, managed by jet inventor Hans von Ohain. In 1975, Paul left the Air Force to be a Manager of Advanced Programs at Rockwell International's Navy Aircraft Plant. In 1985, he was appointed Chief Aeronautical Scientist at Lockheed, trying to come up with a new line of business.

Hans von Ohain inspired Bevilaqua to think like an engineer rather than a mathematician - "in school I learned how to move the pieces, and Hans taught me how to play chess", although he said that about Purdue as well. Ohain also showed Bevilaqua "what those TS-diagrams actually mean".

While at WP, Ohain, Bevilaqua and others investigated and patented various flow related concepts, some of them being flow multipliers related to vertical take-off and landing Paul M. Bevilaqua, "Joint Strike Fighter Dual-Cycle Propulsion System", Journal of Propulsion and Power, 2005, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 778–783

Registration Fees:

CASI or CMAS Members | Complimentary

Non-Members | $15.00


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