Marine Aviation Plan 2015

[spazsinbad]

Some of this info may have been posted before OR may not be as up to date as NOW! So here 'tis:

An Update on the F-35 Roll Out as of February 2015: A Conversation with Steve Over
20 Mar 2015 Robbin Laird, SLDinfo.com

"...Clearly, the F-35 enterprise is focused on U.S. Services IOC’s which start with USMC in July 2015, the USAF in 2016 and USN in 2018.

The Marines have the software, which they will go to IOC with currently, and will finish testing this year, including tests this spring on the USS Wasp.

By the end of last week, the USMC has 12 test points remaining and one additional weapons accuracy test to complete before finishing testing for IOC.

Early increment 3i software, which is loaded into a new generation of mission computer, is being tested now as well.

USN testing is continuing with the next carrier based testing to occur in the Fall aboard the USS Eisenhower.

During the recent USS Nimitz testing, the F-35C began its night operations testing, and this will continue along with weapons loading (inert) and other tests relevant to the work flow aboard a carrier...."

Source: http://www.sldinfo.com/an-update-on-the ... teve-over/

[spazsinbad]

Repost (from 'a wrong thread') reference to how USMC have tested - and will test - their F-35/DSO & SeaBase OMFTS concepts etc (and NOT on BS command).

Some USN/USMC 'testing' (yep NO F-35Bs in sight - yet but - wait for 2016? or 2018? RIMPAC and of course the BOLD ALLIGATOR exercises (amongst probably a whole lot of other F-35B future exercises). PSSSTTT! Don't tell BS.

http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.ph ... -2014.html
&
http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.ph ... ities.html

[spazsinbad]

F-35 jump jet gears up for crucial at-sea tests [PSSSSSSSTT!!!!!!!!!!! Don't Tell BS - BS won't ask anyways]
22 Mar 2015 Lance M. Bacon

"The first shipboard operational test period for the Marine Corps' short take off and vertical landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter is scheduled to take place May 18-30 aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp. Six of the jets will participate, four out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, and two from MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina.

Evaluators will assess the stealth jet's integration and operation within the full spectrum of flight and maintenance operations, as well as supply chain support while embarked at sea, said Maj. Paul Greenberg, Marine Corps spokesman. Lessons learned will "lay the groundwork" for future deployments, he said. The aims of the at-sea tests include:

• Assess day and night take-offs and landings, weapons loads, and extended range operations.
• Assess aircraft-to-ship network communications.
• Evaluate the landing signal officer's launch and recovery software.
• Test the crew's ability to conduct scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.
• Determine the suitability of maintenance support equipment for shipboard operations.
• Assess the logistics footprint of a deployed, six-plane F-35B detachment.

The F-35B remains the centerpiece of Marine fixed-wing modernization because "it supports our doctrinal form of maneuver warfare and our operational need for close air support in austere conditions and locations potentially inaccessible for traditional fighters," Greenberg told Navy Times on March 17."The Lightning II will provide effective close-air support to our Marines and sailors when they need it the most."

Twenty-one alterations were required to equip the Wasp for regular operation of the F-35B aircraft, according to Matt Leonard, spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command. Each alteration will be made on all L-class ships during planned availabilities and in line on newly constructed ships in advance of the F-35B's arrival.

Among the biggest challenges has been the downward force and heat of the F-35B's engines as it lands, which has burned the nonskid deck. [QUE?] A new highly tolerant, temperature resistant thermal spray coating was applied and has been successfully evaluated aboard Wasp during F-35B, V-22, AV-8B and other helicopter flight operations, Leonard said.

The Wasp also underwent seven "cornerstone" alterations that provide necessary electrical servicing upgrades, expand weapons handling and storage, provide for the F-35B Autonomic Logistics Information System, secure access facilities, and relocate the flight deck tramline for flight safety....

Source: http://www.navytimes.com/story/military ... /25011309/

[popcorn]

Probation a distant memory. Counting the days to IOC and a new age of USMC Aviation.

[spazsinbad]

This recent article about V-22s in USN I presume may be relevant however I will not know because I ain't signed up:

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/nav ... t-1.336199

[spazsinbad]

PICK a number between 6 & 9 for USMC UnFunDead F-35B purchase request? Whatever floats your boat.

Marine Corps Has More Than $2b in Unfunded Requirements
23 Mar 2015 Tony Capaccio & Roxana Tiron

"(Bloomberg) — Marine Corps has ~$2.1b in requirements not funded in FY16 Pentagon budget request, according to list sent by Commandant of the Marine Corps to lawmakers.

• High among needs is $1.05b for 6 more Lockheed F-35 Joint Strike Fighters; $24.5m for 3 Bell H-1 helicopters; $180m for 2 Lockheed KC-130J aircraft

• So-called unfunded requirements list requested by leaders of congressional defense cmtes

• Other military services also expected to send in their needs as Congress starts writing FY16 defense bills

• NOTE: FY16 budget requests funding for 9 F-35B Marine models"

Source: http://about.bgov.com/2015-03-23/marine ... uirements/

Marines Send Congress Unfunded Priorities List Worth $2.1B
24 Mar 2015 InSideDeFence.COM

"The Marine Corps has sent Congress an unfunded priorities list for fiscal year 2016 totaling $2.1 billion, the bulk of which would go toward the purchase of six additional Lockheed Martin-manufactured F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, according to a document obtained by InsideDefense.com."

Source: http://insidedefense.com/login-redirect ... ode/168305

[neptune]

Some of this info may have been posted before OR..

...always room for more!

US Marines stick to F-35B dates despite new problems
By: Stephen Trimble

The.Corps has decided to stand-up the first operational F-35B squadron in July with known software, structural and logistical deficiencies that must be fixed later, says Lt Gen .Bogdan, ex. o. of the joint program office.

- That decision means the first F-35B unit will achieve its initial operational capability milestone on time in the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2015, but with some operational restrictions, maintenance workarounds and the possibility of an internal redesign of a critical bulkhead, .. In 2010, the USMC accepted that the first operational F-35 squadron would enter service in 2015 with a less capable version of software.. That lesser software version – dubbed Block 2B – will be incomplete at the time of IOC. The software performs the basic flight control functions well, ., but is unable to handle the most extreme challenge for the F-35’s vaunted “sensor fusion” capability.
- The F-35’s mission systems software processes data being collected by various onboard sensors into a complete operational picture that is presented to the pilot. In a scenario with four F-35s flying in formation against both ground and air threats, the sensor fusion system is designed to pass targeting information between aircraft using the multi-platform advanced data link (MADL). Recent testing has shown, however, that the software algorithms become confused with three or four aircraft sharing data about the same target, .. Each aircraft senses the target’s location and characteristics slightly differently, and the algorithms are unable to determine if there is only one target or more than one target. The F-35B’s pilots have learned to use various work-arounds, he says. For example, four-aircraft formations can be broken down into groups of two aircraft, where the sensor fusion algorithms have proven more reliable, he says. A completed version of the Block 2B software that fixes the problem should be available by October, ..
- ..he is worried about the integrity of the F-35B’s aluminium 496 bulkhead, which bears critical structural loads where the trailing edge of the wing attaches to the aft fuselage. In 2004, programme officials reduced the weight of the F-35B .. Those changes included switching the bulkhead material from titanium to lighter-weight aluminium. The lighter bulkhead has since proved susceptible to structural cracking, requiring a series of “patches” all over the 496 bulkhead. There are now so many patches that programme officials are concerned it may be necessary to redesign the bulkhead for production aircraft, ..
- .Lockheed’s autonomic logistics information system (ALIS) is not ready to support a growing fleet of operational and test aircraft, .. It will take a few years to resolve the ALIS deficiencies, and until then F-35B maintainers must use workarounds to inspect and repair the aircraft.

Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ms-410518/

[spazsinbad]

Some extra problem details here with F-35B tyres yet to be designed/manufactured to specification:

The F-35 Program Boss’s To-Do List
24 Mar 2015 Marcus Weisgerber

"...The plane will not have all the bells and whistles originally anticipated, but it will still be more advanced than the old Harriers and Hornets in the Marine Corps inventory. And for the issues that aren’t fixed, they will use work-arounds, Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the F-35 program manger, said Tuesday....

...Here’s what’s still on Bogdan’s watch list:

Software
The F-35 has more than 8 million lines of code and is the most software intensive fighter jet ever built. Software “always has been the No. 1 technical issue on this program … and probably always will be,” Bogdan says. The software that runs the mechanical flight controls on the airplane is performing “very, very well,” Bogdan said. The mission software, which fuses data from the plane’s many electronic sensors, is a different story. “Fusion is by far the most complicated and worrisome, on my part, element of this program,” Bogdan said. One issue: A fusion algorithm sometimes misinterprets a threat, such as a surface-to-air missile site, as multiple targets when four jets are flying together. The Marines will initially deploy the plane with work-arounds to this and other issues.

ALIS.... Reliability & Maintainability...

...Aircraft Structure
The structure of the Marine Corps F-35 is much different than the Air Force and Navy version. That’s because there is a massive fan positioned behind the cockpit that allows the jet to land vertically, like a helicopter. During testing, machines stress the aircraft to determine structural limits. “You try to break the airplane and figure out where it’s going to break first,” Bogdan said. The Air Force and Marine [USN meant] versions have not had any major issues throughout testing....

...A titanium bulkhead, a central piece to the aircraft structure that essentially holds the plane together, was replaced with a thinner aluminum version. “What we thought was a good engineering judgment back then — turns out that we’ve got some issues now,” Bogdan said.

Tires
There are a number lesser issues that “we know we will be able to fix [and are] not technically challenging, they just require some time to do them,” Bogdan said. Among them, the Dunlop tires on the Marine Corps version. The tires are particularly difficult on this aircraft because they have to have enough give so they bounce on a vertical landing, but also enough durability to maintain their form during a 170 mile-per-hour [AFAIK it is KanNots] takeoff from a runway. Testers are evaluating a tire now that is performing better than its three predecessors, Bogdan said. “This is more of a manufacturing problem than anything else,” he said. “We know exactly what the tire needs to look like. Being about to manufacture a tire to those [specifications] is really hard.”

Engine
Engine problems have arisen throughout the F-35 program, most recently last year when a design flaw grounded the entire fleet for several weeks. The problem has been identified and an interim fix is in place, program officials say. A final fix will be completed by the end of the summer, Bogdan said, adding, “Still on the watch list … but I don’t lose sleep over that too much.”

Marine Corps Deployment
To meet the Marine Corps deployment schedule later this year, a number of objectives must be met.

Among them, 10 aircraft must be in combat configuration, meaning they could go to war. Two aircraft have received modification and a third will be done “soon,” Bogdan said.

Pilots need to undergo training on simulator software that is up to date with the software in the aircraft themselves. “Today we have software in those [simulators] that needs to be upgraded over the next month and a half to the latest version of the software that they’re going to use in enough time so that their pilots can train,” Bogdan said.

Also on the list are mission data files, little computers that plug into the airplane and depict threats in a region. The Marine Corps needs these mission data files for two specific areas of the world where they expect to fly.

Last on the to-do list for the Marine Corps deployment is the hardware for the plane’s complicated logistics system. The physical computer system itself needed to be scaled down and the software also needed modification to work on a smaller mainframe. The system is slated to deploy about 30 days late, Bogdan said."

Source: http://www.defenseone.com/management/20 ... ist/108322

[gabriele]

The bulkhead is the (in)famous 496, isn't it...? Flightglobal makes it sound like it is a new issue and that the redesign is a new thing, but in April 2014 they said they already were redesigning it and hoped to have the new bulkhead integrated in production from LRIP 9 onwards.
Would be handy to have the record of what Bogdan exactly said, to see if there is any actual change from that.

[maus92]

Some more details about the limited capabilities of the 2B F-35B:

Stealth Jet's Slow, Half-Blind Debut
Dave Majumdar | Daily Beast | 3.25.15

"The $400 billion F-35 is supposed to be the key to American air superiority for decades to come. But when it rolls out to frontline pilots, the jet will be anything but imposing.

The U.S. Marine Corps is pressing ahead with plans deploy the stealthy F-35B jump jet to frontline fighter squadrons this July despite flawed software and very limited ability to maneuver. That’s despite fixes to the software that are already available to the $400 billion Joint Strike Fighter program...."

"The F-35B, when it becomes operational on July 1, won't be able to go as fast or be as maneuverable as advertised, either. Bogdan said that “not a whole lot” of the jet’s full flight performance will be available, but it will have what the Marines willing to live with.

A plane's ability to move is measured by how many "Gs" – units of gravitational force – it can function under. The steeper the climb, the tighter the turn, the more Gs the plane pulls. The F-35B was supposed to be capable of 7 Gs. But for now, it will be able to pull between 4.5 and 5.5 Gs, Bogdan said. By comparison, a present day F-16 can pull 9 Gs. It will also be supersonic—just barely. “I think the Marine Corp at IOC will be able to go supersonic,” Bogdan said. “It might be like 1.1. Mach.”

It’s won’t be able to go its promised 1.6 times the speed of sound until later—but even then—other modern aircraft are capable of flying at more than twice the speed of sound."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... debut.html

[bring_it_on]

So Dave finally figured out that the F-35 has a mach 1.6 top speed. Well good for him, I'm sure the JPO had to grant him special security clearance to allow him access to that info . He also needs to be properly educated on who decides IOC and who has to live with that decision. It surely isn't a reporter but then I may be wrong.

Anyhow, back to actually discussing some of what was said by the JPO boss.

“Workarounds” for F-35B IOC
JOHN A. TIRPAK3/25/2015

http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pa ... 25%202015/“Workarounds”-for-F-35B-IOC.aspx

Despite recently discovered deficiencies in the 2B iteration of software, the Marine Corps will likely declare initial operating capability with the F-35 in July as planned, Joint Strike Fighter Program Director Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan said Tuesday. Speaking to reporters at his Arlington, Va., office, Bogdan said the “fusion” software can falsely interpret multiple detections of the same target by a four-ship F-35 package as multiple targets. “The sensitivity of the fusion model has to be tweaked,” Bogdan said, adding that a final fix may not be in hand until several months after the planned IOC date of July 1. There are operating “workarounds” available—such as treating the package as two two-ship flights instead of a single four-ship flight—that solve the problem, he said, and those are “good enough for the Marines” to go ahead with IOC. “They feel confident they can go to war with it,” he said.

The program office doesn’t technically have to fix the problem until a later software increment, and Bogdan said, “I’m going to take the heat” for having a fix in work when IOC is declared, but it’s being dealt with now “because it won’t get any better” with age. Even so, the software, as it stands, will work well and give the Marine Corps much more capability than they have now with “old Harriers and Hornets,” he said. “I won’t put anything out there that’s unsafe,” Bogdan asserted. As for Air Force F-35A IOC, now just 496 days away, “I know for a fact the fixes will be in” by then, he added.

Fixed and Waiting to be Fixed
JOHN A. TIRPAK3/25/2015

http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pa ... Fixed.aspx

Most of the problems critics have trumpeted as indications of the “failure” of the F-35 program are fixed or nearly so, and are “not even on my top-10 worry list,” Joint Strike Fighter Program Director Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan said Tuesday. Talking with reporters at his Arlington, Va., office, Bogdan said the list of things that are “fixed” include the fuel dump issue, the carrier-model tailhook, lightning strike protection, the aftermath of last year’s engine fire, and the jittery helmet displays. Though all those corrections have not yet been “fielded and tested,” Bogdan said he’s convinced they’re fully understood and being resolved; the engine problem that caused a jet to burn last year will be fully resolved “this summer,” he said. “My big list” of real worries, he added, are software, the ALIS (autonomic logistics information system) reliability, and maintainability. While the A and C versions are “close to where they’re supposed to be” on the R&M learning curve, the B model “not so much,” he said. (See also Bogdan: F-35 Schedule Low Risk)

The F-35 Lifetime Channel
JOHN A. TIRPAK3/25/2015

http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pa ... nnel-.aspx

Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, Joint Strike Fighter program director, said all three versions of the F-35 will be durability tested to three lifetimes because it’s almost certain the jets will serve longer than the planned 30 years. Speaking with reporters in Arlington, Va., Bogdan said the F-35A and C models “are doing pretty darn good” in the torture test, which bends and twists the jets. Even though computer models “predicted major findings for the A and C, we have not had any … that would require significant structural change,” Bogdan said, noting each has survived 1.5 lifetimes of stress so far. The B model is “a different story.” Because the short takeoff and vertical landing model was too heavy early in the program, engineers “pulled about 3,000 pounds” out of the structure,” Bogdan explained. That decision “came back to bite us” in cases like the 496 bulkhead, which was changed from a titanium part to aluminum. It’s cracking under strain. He also said there have​ been so many changes to the F-35B that the jet in the test rig may no longer be representative of the operational model. The durability test is one “we do … on purpose … to break it,” Bogdan said. He’s frustrated that such events are treated in the press as program failures. “If you don’t have breaks, it means you didn’t set up the test right,” he said. The failures show engineers what parts either need to be beefed up or replaced after a certain number of flying hours.

[spazsinbad]

That AFM website is for sure just weird but hey it seems to be more freely available - or am I hallucinating? Anyway...

The F-35 Lifetime Channel
25 Mar 2015 John A. Tirpak

"Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, Joint Strike Fighter program director, said all three versions of the F-35 will be durability tested to three lifetimes because it’s almost certain the jets will serve longer than the planned 30 years. Speaking with reporters in Arlington, Va., Bogdan said the F-35A and C models “are doing pretty darn good” in the torture test, which bends and twists the jets. Even though computer models “predicted major findings for the A and C, we have not had any … that would require significant structural change,” Bogdan said, noting each has survived 1.5 lifetimes of stress so far. The B model is “a different story.” Because the short takeoff and vertical landing model was too heavy early in the program, engineers “pulled about 3,000 pounds” out of the structure,” Bogdan explained. That decision “came back to bite us” in cases like the 496 bulkhead, which was changed from a titanium part to aluminum. It’s cracking under strain. He also said there have​ been so many changes to the F-35B that the jet in the test rig may no longer be representative of the operational model. The durability test is one “we do … on purpose … to break it,” Bogdan said. He’s frustrated that such events are treated in the press as program failures. “If you don’t have breaks, it means you didn’t set up the test right,” he said. The failures show engineers what parts either need to be beefed up or replaced after a certain number of flying hours."

Source: http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pa ... nnel-.aspx

[bring_it_on]

I think I was still signed in when I copied the links but I guess all the 3 articles are available to everyone.

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

Breaking news! At IOC the F-35B will still be better than the Harrier in all ways except max G available. Will have "As promised" performance a year later with a SOFTWARE UPDATE! Bulkhead failure was found in Durability testing and will not effect the early service F-35Bs before it can be replaced at depot level (if they decide they still need the first few dozen at that time, when they have a few hundred more). Sorry, I just fail to see any doom and gloom with these reports. The first Wasp deployment was far more telling to me, that the first LHA landing was made by a Hornet pilot with no Harrier experience and he stated the challenge wasn't the approach or landing or touchdown, but nailing a 1ft^2 box with the nose gear.

[spazsinbad]

Thanks for that - I feel better now.