F-35 and Corrosion 2017

[neptune]

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... th-442784/

Corrosion issue stops F-35 deliveries for a month

01 November, 2017
BY: Leigh Giangreco

Washington DC
Lockheed Martin halted all F-35 deliveries for a month after discovering excessive corrosion on fasteners under an F-35A’s fuselage panels during maintenance at Hill AFB, Utah, the Defense Department confirmed this week. The Pentagon temporarily suspended deliveries of the Joint Strike Fighter from 21 September until 20 October, a JPO spokesman tells FlightGlobal. A joint government and industry investigation found that Lockheed had failed to apply a primer to prevent corrosion in the fastener holes for an aluminum cover plate. The issue does not pose a safety risk to the fleet or affect operations, the JPO says in a statement. The JPO, international partners and Lockheed are developing a plan to inspect about 250 F-35 already delivered and fix any panels with corroded fasteners, the JPO adds. “In the interim, primer will be applied to fastener holes of fielded aircraft as panels are removed during routine F-35 maintenance operations,” the JPO states. “Lockheed Martin has taken action to correct the production line work order error to ensure primer is applied to all fastener holes on future aircraft.”

Lockheed delivered 44 F-35s through the firsts three quarters of 2017, averaging nearly 15 aircraft per three-month period. Another 22 aircraft must be delivered in the fourth quarter for Lockheed to hit the JPO's delivery target of 66 deliveries.


Those of us who flew over the "briney sea" will have difficulty in understanding corrosion "issues" in this day and age, again!!

[marauder2048]

Lockheed delivered 44 F-35s through the firsts three quarters of 2017, averaging nearly 15 aircraft per three-month period. Another 22 aircraft must be delivered in the fourth quarter for Lockheed to hit the JPO's delivery target of 66 deliveries.

and now

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-01/pentagon-discloses-new-quality-glitch-on-lockheed-s-f-35-jets

“We are taking a holistic fleet-wide approach to plan and implement corrective action on aircraft in production and fielded jets, which allowed deliveries to resume,” Lockheed spokeswoman Carolyn Nelson said in an email. “We continue to be on track to meet our delivery goal of 66 F-35s by the end of 2017 and have delivered 54 aircraft year-to-date.”

[spazsinbad]

A bit of oldtyme SHAR (Sea Harrier) corrosion control.

[spazsinbad]

Surrendered to the Great Corrosion Controller - Davy Jones Locker - during attempted movement from Fly 1 MELBOURNE.
GONE - but NOT Forgotten. A4G 886 was 'eighty-sixed' - brakeman NAM (Naval Air Man) Krenn went over also, thankfully he was wearing a float coat - picked up by nearby destroyer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term)

[doge]

http://www.azfamily.com/story/36743516/ ... -a-new-one

Retired general confident F-35 can overcome issues as Pentagon reveals a new one
Posted: Nov 02, 2017 2:48 PM
Updated: Nov 02, 2017 3:19 PM
By Derek Staahl
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -
A retired Air Force general who served as the NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe said he’s confident the F-35 program will overcome its “initial issues,” shortly after the Pentagon announced a new glitch with the aircraft’s production Wednesday.

Before speaking at an event for the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations, retired four-star General Philip Breedlove said he expects the F-35 to become “the backbone of our tactical fleet for our future.”

“I think what you're seeing is an aircraft that is working through its initial issues and they're progressing on all those issues,” he said.

Since retiring, Breedlove has done work for the plane’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.

The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it temporarily halted deliveries of all new jets for 30 days in September and October to address a problem with corrosion on the plane’s air frame. Lockheed Martin has since restarted deliveries.

The issue was caused by a lack of protective coating on a specific part of the plane, the Pentagon said.

The announcement comes days after Luke Air Force Base revealed pilots training on the F-35 continue to have new cases of hypoxia-like symptoms in-flight.

The base grounded its F-35s in June after five pilots had so-called “physiological episodes.” Since flights resumed, a base spokesperson said there have been three cases at Luke along with two pilots at other bases.

“I'm confident that our engineers will get to the root causes of this and fix it,” Breedlove said.

Despite technical glitches and cost-overruns that have drawn the attention of President Donald Trump, Breedlove said the F-35 program is "an incredible success."

"The ability that this airplane will bring to our air forces, the capability, its lethality and a new incredible capability as far as its stealthiness. We have to keep focused on what we're here to do," he said.

"And remember, in the F-16, when it first came along, it had all kinds of problems too."

Click/tap here to download the free azfamily mobile app.


Copyright 2017 KPHO/KTVK (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.

Norway too,
New posts in Norway seem to be related to F-35 Corrosion. (Language is Norwegian...)
http://nettsteder.regjeringen.no/kampfl ... r-pa-f-35/

[SpudmanWP]

Lockheed Martin dispels F-35 corrosion fears

When speaking with Defence Connect, director of F-35 international business development Steve Over was quick to highlight Lockheed's rapid response to the issues identified in late 2017.

"We have developed a remediation plan in close collaboration with our customers. It was decided that the issues presented weren't urgent, so they would be rectified as the aircraft cycled back through maintenance depots," he said.

...

Meanwhile, recent publicity surrounding apparent depressurisation and oxygen supply issues, allegedly similar to those experienced in the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, were also identified when a number of pilots stationed at Luke Air Force Base presented with physiological symptoms similar to hypoxia, including oxygen deprivation, ear pain and sinus issues.

In response to the claims of depressurisation concerns around the F-35 cockpit, Over was clear when he said that it was not a depressurisation issue and that slow progress had been made regarding the root cause analysis, with a number opportunities to improve the robustness of the design identified.

Meanwhile, the complex physiological issues experienced by the small number of pilots could not be directly attributed to hypoxia (oxygen deprivation) and it would be prudent to await the final findings of the thorough investigation for a likely cause.

More at the jump
https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/strike-air-combat/2569-5th-generation-fighter-to-come-roaring-into-service-despite-concerns

[spazsinbad]

Googly Translaty of the 'doggy' Norsky Novy 2017 URLy above: https://translate.google.com.au/transla ... edit-text=

Proven corrosion at fixing points on F-35
02 Nov 2017 Maryam Iqbal Tahir

"Corrosion has been detected at fixing points on the F-35. The deviation is a routine failure in the production that does
not affect the air quality of the F-35. Our first three planes will land on Ørland on Friday.

Recently, unexpected corrosion was detected during routine maintenance on an American F-35 at the Hill Air Force Base in Utah. In-depth investigations conducted by the multinational program office and industry show that the fixing points on a number of panels are not adequately corrosion-proof during the manufacturing process. This is a routine failure in the production of Lockheed Martin, which produces the combat aircraft. The foul includes all F-35 so far produced.

"The deviation does not affect the airworthiness of F-35 and we will now receive our first combat aircraft on Ørland on November 3," says General Morten Klever, who heads the Norwegian Kampfly Program in the Ministry of Defense. The multinational program office is working closely with US Services, partner countries and Lockheed Martin to conduct
comprehensive technical investigations and to set up a plan to correct the error on all planes. Meanwhile, corrosion protection will be applied to F-35 mounting points during routine maintenance. In addition, Lockheed Martin has taken steps to rectify the defect in the production line to ensure that future F-35 has the necessary corrosion protection.

"We have been very pleased with our aircraft so far, both in terms of performance and technical solutions. This is a failure in production that will not occur and I have transferred the message to management at Lockheed Martin that this is not the quality we expect. The positive here is that the maintenance routines have worked and that the problem was detected. I now expect Lockheed Martin to identify the necessary measures and correct the error as quickly as possible, "says Klever.

Klever emphasizes that the program office and Lockheed Martin work on solutions that will minimize the consequences for users of the F-35. In addition to this, it is too early to say anything about the consequences for the Air Force's training, as opposed to the planned establishment of initial operational capacity in 2019.

"We have received assurances from Lockheed Martin that all costs associated with repairs to the Norwegian aircraft will not be charged to the Norwegian Kampfly program," Klever says."

Source: http://nettsteder.regjeringen.no/kampfl ... r-pa-f-35/

[pron]

I put this here - Lockheed Martin Potentially Mixed Up Structural Fasteners in Most F-35s

Hundreds of F-35s could have the wrong fasteners in “critical areas,” according to the Defense Contract Management Agency. But F-35 builder Lockheed Martin says the problem may not need to be fixed.
“All aircraft produced prior to discovery of this [problem] have titanium fasteners incorrectly installed in locations where the design calls for Inconel,”

Inconel is an alloy of nickel and chromium, and is supposed to be used in places where greater strength and corrosion resistance are required, while the titanium bolts are used in areas where its strength and lightness helps reduce weight. Titanium, however, has a lower shear strength than Inconel.

https://www.airforcemag.com/lockheed-po ... bPi3AgGiXA