Forum: General F-35 Forum

All F-35 maintenance to be performed in Australia 30th Aug 2012 Kym Bergmann

http://www.asiapacificdefencereporter.c ... -Australia

"Speaking to the media on August 23 August in Canberra, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program manager Tom Burbage explained that once Australia’s F-35s are delivered they will never have to return to the US for maintenance....

...The F-35 has a vast number of design parameters, including many that are aimed at reducing the cost of maintenance and support....

...However, even though the aircraft is unlikely to be as maintenance-intensive as those it replaces, work will still need to be done. Until now, many observers of the project had assumed that the Australian aircraft would have to be returned to the US at some point for deeper level work. Not so, according to Mr Burbage. He was definite that once in Australia, they will be supported here for their lifetimes – though individual components might need to be returned to their manufacturer, depending on the circumstances.

He and his colleagues were complimentary of the up-front work that the RAAF has required from Lockheed Martin to define what will be needed for in-country support and he indicated that Australia is more advanced than other F-35 customers in this regard. Exactly how support activities will be arranged is a question for the future. The RAAF itself is likely to do some of it. However, it seems highly probable that Lockheed Martin will lead a team of local companies – probably based near RAAF Williamtown outside Newcastle – to also take on a percentage of the work....

...Forthcoming tests will involve many more weapons release activities and – exciting to view – aircraft spin tests. These involve taking the jet initially to 20,000 feet and deliberately putting it in an uncontrolled state in the form of a spin and then letting the flight control system take over and recover the aircraft...."

Various other topics covered in this longish article - best go to the URL.

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"Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program manager Tom Burbage explained that once Australia’s F-35s are delivered they will never have to return to the US for maintenance."

But that doesn't mean they will have depot level maintenance in Australia. Japan and/ or Korea could both make a convincing proposal for depot maintenance in their technological industrial bases. It would seem prudent for Australia to "beat them to the punch" but if Australia sits on their duff too long, they may miss the opportunity. There are competiive options and lazily presumed job security may wake up and find they missed the race. It certainly would benefit the US for Australia to win this competition, their "isolation" from the anticipated areas of conflict could once again encourage the US to make use of mutually beneficial facilities. Taiwan, Korea and Japan may find themselves "a bit close" for a consideration of comfort or defendable facilities. But then there is the Phillipines and Singapore (more flies in the Australian ointment) Ha! Laughing

Flight distance From Melbourne to Seoul is 5312 miles and the flight from Seoul to Los Angeles is 5968 miles. Don't see a depot in Australia as an advantage to the Koreans or Japanese. It does make sense if the jets are sold to Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

I haven't read through the article but I think it needs a bit of clarification. EDIT: Okay I have read through the article, basically confirms what I said.

The airframe apparently will not require any deeper depot level work for its predicted lifecycle of 8000 hours. Its been described as being aircraft centric approach, where all the major maintenance on the aircraft can be done in the hangar. What will go to high level depots is the individual parts, such as avionics busses, engines ect. So if the engine detects a fault, the entire assembly is removed and then sent to the depot to be repaired (not the back of the hangar which is common for a lot of air forces today.) Now for those systems its possible that they might be sent to a shared facility out of country... but I think that depends as to what sort of industrial facilities exist within the country.

BTW its nice to have the board back to productive discussion, rather than inanity and trolling.