F-35 Still Faces ‘Considerable’ Risks: Auditors

The Defense Department’s F-35 fighter jet program has recently made progress on several fronts, but still faces “considerable” challenges and risks, according to a new analysis from government auditors.
The Joint Strike Fighter program in 2012 met most of its management objectives, according to recent testimony from Michael Sullivan, director of acquisition and sourcing management at the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2013/06/25/f-35-still-faces-considerable-risks-auditors/#ixzz2XKsPlPwn
Defense.org

F-35 Production on Track, Program Chief Says

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2013 – The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter program is a different program than it was four years ago, the F-35 program executive officer said here yesterday.
In a speech at the McAleese/Credit Suisse Defense Programs Conference at the Newseum, Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan told attendees that he and his predecessor, Navy Vice Adm. Dave Venlet, worked with Lockheed-Martin and Pratt & Whitney to reform the problem-plagued development program.
“Lockheed-Martin and Pratt & Whitney have been doing a pretty good job over the last few years of stepping up and making those kinds of changes that the government needs for this program to succeed,” the general said.
The aircraft’s development has been rocky, Bogdan acknowledged. A redesign of the short takeoff and vertical landing system in 2004 led to delays and added $6 billion to the cost of the development program, he said.

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Pentagon Report Warns Of F-35 Visibility Risks

U.S. Air Force

Two F-35A Lightning IIs from the 33rd Fighter Wing soar over Eglin Air Force Base's range during the unit's first joint strike fighter formation flight in 2012.

Significant visibility issues could lead to dangerous flight conditions, according to test pilots who have flown the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
That is just one of several issues identified by the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester in a February report, published online (PDF) today by the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight.
Other issues include flawed radar, ongoing challenges with the high-tech helmet required to fly the jet, and potential issues with the touch screen control interface.
The operational utility evaluation (OUE) itself was extremely scaled down from the type of testing that is normally done with such a program, to the point where the authors of the report conclude that “the results of the OUE should not be used to make decisions regarding the readiness of the JSF system to support training inexperienced pilots in an F-35A initial qualification course.”

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F-35 Cleared For Flight; Turbine Crack Cause Identified

WASHINGTON: The entire F-35 fleet has been cleared to resume flying only one week after being grounded for the second time this year. In vintage Pentagonese, this is how the return to flight was announced today to Capitol Hill:"Upon completion and compliance with the immediate action Time Compliant Technical Directive (TCTD) issued this week to borescope inspect the LPT stage 3 turbine blades, F-35 LRIP aircraft are returned to flight status. Additionally, a 25 Effective Flight Hour (EFH) reporting cycle of creep damage will now be implemented to monitor and limit turbine creep exposure."

Basically, it means that a potentially really serious problem -- turbine blades suffering from high cycle fatigue -- was not the cause of the half-inch crack which led to last week's highly publicized grounding.

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Second UK F-35 And Marine Corps F-35B Delivered To Eglin

illustration only

The second United Kingdom Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II takes off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base Friday for delivery to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
Eglin's eleventh U.S. Marine Corps F-35B ferried to the Emerald Coast with the U.K. jet.
The aircraft, known as ZM136 and BF-16, departed at approximately 8:06 a.m. CDT with U.K. Royal Air Force Sqn. Ldr. Jim Schofield and Marine Corps Maj. Adam Levine at the controls, respectively, for the 90-minute ferry flight to Eglin.

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No plans to build F-35 EW variant

The Marine Corps has no plans to pursue an Electronic Warfare variant of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos at a Pentagon roundtable Thursday.
Amos said the AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar installed on the F-35 already sets the fifth generation fighter apart as an electronic warfare platform.
“The airplane itself … with the AESA radar and sensors and information sharing capability is a pretty significant EW platform right now,” said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos at a roundtable meeting with reporters in the Pentagon Aug. 23.
Aviation analysts have questioned why the Air Force and Navy have not focused more heavily on modernizing their electronic warfare capabilities. The Navy has started to phase out the EA-6B Prowler with the addition of the FA-18 Growler as the military’s pre-eminent electronic warfare platform to take suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) missions.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2012/08/24/no-plans-to-build-f-35-ew-variant/#ixzz24Zrbze7l
Defense.org 

AFRL Moves Ahead on Bunker-Buster for F-35

The US Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded two more contracts under the High Velocity Penetrating Weapon (HVPW) program to develop technology for a rocket-boosted bunker-buster that can fit inside an F-35.
Lockheed Martin has been awarded $1.7 million and MBDA $1.3 million, but what they will do for the money has not been revealed. In January, Raytheon received an $11 million contract to develop GPS-degraded guidance technology for the HVPW, including anti-jam GPS, angle-of-attack sensing and RF seeker.Graphics: US Air Force
AFRL's High Velocity Penetrating Weapon Flagship Capability Concept (FCC) is intended to reduce the risk in several key areas for a future hard-target munitions acquisition. The FCC will not integrate all the sub-components developed into a full-up round, but is expected to pave the way for a demonstrator program beginning in FY2014. The FCC is planned to culminate in a sled-track demonstration of the ordnance package in FY13.

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Exclusive: U.S., Lockheed reach deal on Israeli F-35s

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON | Thu Jul 26, 2012 3:57pm EDT

(Reuters) - The Pentagon has reached an agreement with Lockheed Martin Corp on a $450 million program to enhance electronic warfare equipment on the F-35 fighter jet, and integrate Israeli-unique systems beginning in 2016, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The deal, to be finalized in coming weeks, marks a big step forward for Israel's $2.75 billion agreement to buy 19 F-35 jets, which was signed in October 2010 and includes options for up to 75 of the radar-evading fighters.

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Learning F-35 Lessons From F-22 Oxygen Errors

The Air Force says it has found the problem causing its F-22 pilots to suffocate in flight. Service officials are blaming it on a valve in the upper pressure garment vest and an air filter that was restricting oxygen volume.
The search for what caused the hypoxia-like symptoms for F-22 pilot took almost two years. It turns out the Pentagon is developing another fighter generation fighter jet. You might have heard of it, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz’s last press conference Tuesday as the service’s top officer, he was asked what gives him confidence something like this won’t happen to the F-35 — an aircraft with a development history littered with problems.
To his credit, Schwartz didn’t try to pretend more problems are not forthcoming for the Joint Strike Fighter.
“There’s no such thing as engineering perfection,” Schwartz said. Without test failures you’re “not really advancing the state of the art.”

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Carter Addresses Joint Strike Fighter Program

TOKYO, July 21, 2012 – Many countries that are partnering with the United States in the F-35 joint strike fighter program will have a role to play in the aircraft’s assembly, but the U.S. government will not decide which country does what, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said here today.
During a press conference with Japanese media representatives, Carter explained that the supersonic stealth fighter’s prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., will decide where the fighter’s various manufacturing processes will be located, based on two factors: the partner nation’s desire to participate in the aircraft’s production, and economic efficiency.
Carter arrived in Japan on the first international stop of an Asia-Pacific tour that has already taken him to Hawaii and Guam, and will continue to Thailand, India and South Korea. He discussed the F-35 program while responding to a reporter’s question on whether Japan will be the site of the aircraft’s final assembly and check out.
Lockheed Martin officials have explained that process, known in the industry as FACO (Final Assembly and Checkout), which involves putting together the four major structural components of the airplane, installing the engines and electronics systems, and coding and test-flying the aircraft.
“The F-35 program is obviously very important to us,” Carter said. “It’s the linchpin of tactical aircraft inventories for the United States for decades to come, so we’re completely committed to it.”

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U.K. To Order First Production F-35 for Training

LONDON — Britain is to order a fourth F-35B short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) fighter next year from builder Lockheed Martin. The aircraft will be the first production-standard F-35 destined for the training fleet, rather than the test and evaluation role being undertaken by the first three aircraft ordered by the British.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond made the order announcement during the handover of the first of the aircraft at a ceremony at the U.S. contractor’s Fort Worth plant in Texas on July 19. The initial three aircraft were purchased at a cost of nearly 300 million pounds ($469.2 million) for test and evaluation, but the fourth will be used to give front-line pilots their first taste of training on the F-35.
The second evaluation aircraft will be delivered next month and the third is scheduled for handover in early 2013. The latest order will see the fourth aircraft delivered in the 2015-2016 time frame.

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