Northrop Grumman cuts F-35 bolt installation from hours to minutes with co-bot

Northrop Grumman introduced a collaborative robot on its F-35 CNI module line, cutting bolt installation on the front housing from hours to minutes. The company is also expanding AI-based quality control that flags defects in completed avionics modules before shipment.

• Co-bot cuts front housing bolt installation on CNI modules from hours to minutes
• Some employees were shifted to other key manufacturing tasks
• AI quality control detects tiny defects in completed modules before shipping
• Palmdale line delivers one F-35 center fuselage every 30 hours