JSF Program Excecutive Officer to return to AFA annual meet

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2013/09/12/f-35- ... ed-martin/

F-35 Official Returns to AFA Year After Criticizing Lockheed Martin

By Michael Hoffman and Bryant Jordan

September 12th, 2013

The Pentagon’s top officer overseeing the F-35 program put Lockheed Martin, the lead contractor, on notice last year with some unexpected straight talk about his views of the program saying the relationship between Lockheed and the Pentagon’s Joint Program Office is the “worst I’ve ever seen.”

A year later, Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan is set to return to the Air Force Association’s annual conference, but the same fireworks are not expected as the F-35 Joint Program Office and Congress has seen progress in the F-35 program.

Air Force leaders have said publicly they are confident the A-model of the F-35 – the Air Force’s version — will achieve initial operational capability by 2016.

Initial operational capability, or IOC, is the target date each service sets for fielding an initial combat capable force. ...

Currently, there are 78 F-35s flying today amongst the services...
The contractor expects to have 90 by the end of the 2013..
and by the end of 2016 the military will have 200 F-35s in the air, and more than 50 percent of them by the Air Force, ...

The Defense Department next year plans to spend $8.4 billion to buy 29 F-35s, including 19 for the Air Force, six for the Marine Corps, and four for the Navy. The funding includes $6.4 billion in procurement, $1.9 billion in research and development, and $187 million in spare parts.

The missed deadlines and cost overruns of the F-35 Lightning II, the most expensive weapons system in U.S. military history, have been well documented. But there are some critics who have begun to offer praise to the program.

..
.confidence follows steps forward in testing as well as a recent vertical night landing by the Marine Corps version of the F-35. Test pilot Lt. Col. C.R. “Jimi” Clift completed the first ever vertical night landing aboard the USS Wasp ..on Aug. 14.

..Lockheed Martin knows it still has work to do to completely return to the good graces of Bogdan and the Joint Program Office. Bogdan, in Congressional testimony, cited the F-35s advanced software as one of the largest challenges still facing the program.

The F-35 requires more than 8 million lines of code, compared with about 2 million for the F-16 and less than 1 million for other fourth-generation fighter aircraft,...
..
Lockheed, for its part, responded to Air Force concerns over a lag in the development of F-35 software by boosting its software workforce by 200 engineers.

.. Lockheed “pulled the best and brightest from throughout our organization” to boost the software program, with many from outside the aeronautics division and specializing in space, ship-board, and sensor technology.

The company also invested $100 million to build a second laboratory, he said, where the engineers are now working around the clock in shifts to write, test, and verify the code.

Bogdan will speak on Sept. 17 about the program.

One year ago, he said the Pentagon and the Joint Program Office will have to “fundamentally change the way we do business with Lockheed Martin.” He conceded last year that Lockheed had made improvements.

The question is did they do enough to avoid a second public tongue lashing from the Pentagon’s top F-35 officer.

I think the good generale has already indicated that he is well pleased with the new LM team and the way things progress in every way these days.

spazsinbad wrote:I think the good generale has already indicated that he is well pleased with the new LM team and the way things progress in every way these days.

They don't call him "the Sheriff" for nothing

And here is what the GoodGeneral had to say (channelling Alfred E. Neumann)....

Pentagon [Bogdan] says not worried about 'death spiral' of F-35 costs/orders 17 Sep 2013 Andrea Shalal-Esa

"(Reuters) - The Air Force general who runs the Pentagon's F-35 fighter program on Tuesday said communications with top contractors Lockheed Martin Corp and United Technologies Corp had improved greatly in the last year.

Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan told the annual Air Force Association conference that the F-35 program was making slow but steady progress, and that he saw strong support from the U.S. military services and foreign partners.

Given that support, he said he no longer worried that the F-35 program would be afflicted by a so-called "death spiral" in which cuts in rising costs lead to lower orders which in turn further boost prices.

Bogdan said he saw no indication that the U.S. Air Force, Navy or Marine Corps planned to significantly reduce their total orders for the F-35 program, despite mounting budget pressures...."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/ ... 8I20130917

A Year After Blasting Contractors, F-35 Program Head Sees Progress | Bogdan says 'sequestration will not break this program' 17 Sep 2013 Aaron Mehta

"...As an example of that cultural change, Bogdan highlighted the creation of a “cost war-room” set up between Lockheed, Pratt and the JPO. The companies are picking up the tab of the entire operation, with Lockheed providing half a floor at their D.C.-area office for free.

That office will feature cost analysts and experts taking a look at potential cost-savings in maintenance, reliability & maintainability (R&M), and the supply chain. Bogdan cited CEO-level buy-in on the project from the companies as proof of a new culture and said he was “cautiously optimistic” it will find good results.

Getting costs out of the program remains a priority, because, as Bogdan said, “If nobody can afford it, [a 5th-generation fighter] does you no good.”..."

http://www.navytimes.com/article/201309 ... /309170036

No doubt clearing the decks and installing new executives in key LM positions helped contribute to the improved working relationship.

neurotech wrote:

spazsinbad wrote:I think the good generale has already indicated that he is well pleased with the new LM team and the way things progress in every way these days.

They don't call him "the Sheriff" for nothing

What do they call his boss?

Cap'n AmeriKa?

spazsinbad wrote:Cap'n AmeriKa?

With that many "Stars" I think we will call him whatever he wants!

Good thing the mask is protecting his identity..

http://defensetech.org/2013/09/17/air-f ... more-21322

Pentagon Calms Rhetoric Against Lockheed Over F-35

by Brendan McGarry on September 17, 2013

..
Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the general overseeing the effort, said the relationship between the service and Lockheed — the plane’s manufacturer and the world’s biggest defense contractor — along with engine-maker Pratt & Whitney, part of United Technologies Corp., is “orders of magnitude” better than it was a year ago.

“I’m encouraged by where we are today,” he said Tuesday at the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition at National Harbor, Md. “I’d like to be a little further along.”

....Bogdan made at the same forum last year, when he called the relationship the “worst I’ve ever seen.” On Tuesday, Bogdan indicated his previous remarks were deliberate. “I threw a hand grenade into the crowd … that was intended,” he said.

Over the past year, the service and the Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor have successfully negotiated contracts for two batches of aircraft known as Lots 6 and Lots 7, Bogdan said. Moreover, the terms of the agreements stipulate that Lockheed will have to pay for any cost overruns, he said.

.Bogdan didn’t rule out that the military may have to reduce the number of aircraft it ultimately intends to buy because of automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.

The estimated price tag to develop and build ..combined amount is $4.5 billion, or 1.1 percent, less than an estimate of $395.7 billion released in March 2012. The decline was attributed in part to revised labor rates charged by the prime contractor and its subcontractors.

..

Across-the-board budget reductions may force the military to decrease the quantity of aircraft it plans to purchase, Bogdan said. Even so, the plane more affordable is still the program’s priority, he said.

“We can have the best airplane in the world, but if no one can afford it, then it does us no good,” he said.

Bogdan said he is confident the Marine Corps will be able to begin operational flights of its version of the F-35 in 2015, followed by the Air Force in 2016 and the Navy in 2019. ..

Software problems are still the biggest risk for the program, Bogdan said. Lockheed this summer said it boosted its software workforce by 200 engineers and invested $100 million to build a second laboratory to write, test and verify the code.

Another report that gives more detail for once... The HOOK & HMDS bits will be reprised in respective forum threads also.... Only first part excerpt below.

F-35 costs drop as technical challenges lessen, officials say 18 Sep 2013

"NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. — The F-35 is no longer a trillion-dollar program and costs are likely to continue to drop, officials for the Joint Strike Fighter program said Tuesday.

US Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the head of the F-35 Joint Program Office, confirmed that his office estimates the sustainment cost for the F-35 has decreased to $857 billion, a significant drop from a figure often cited as $1.1 trillion.

That larger figure was from a three-year-old government report, Bogdan said at the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference, and the new number reflects a more accurate assessment of the program. However, given the dangers of trying to predict costs and inflation over a 50-year period, even that number contains “a lot of assumptions.”

Speaking earlier in the day, Lorraine Martin, Lockheed Martin’s executive vice president and general manager of the F-35 Lightning II Program, said the cost for an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant has dropped to less than $100 million per aircraft.

“That’s a great milestone for us,” Martin said, noting that in negotiations from low-rate initial production (LRIP) 1 aircraft to LRIP-5, costs per airframe dropped 55 percent. “We are dragging costs down across the entire program.”

Martin and Bogdan both expressed confidence that previously reported issues are being addressed and will not cause further program delays.

One long-term concern has been the capability of the F-35 pilot’s helmet, required for interfacing with the fighter’s high-tech electronics. Lockheed’s helmet is suitable for initial operating capability (IOC), Martin said, but the company is installing an enhanced night-vision camera that would be put in place by the time LRIP-7 models enter production.

The tailhook on the Navy’s F-35C carrier variant has also been a running concern, but Lockheed is confident its new design has solved the problem. The tailhook will be tested in October and November with trap runs at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in New Jersey, with carrier tests due next summer.

Another concern has been the plane’s ability to fly near lightning, which is currently restricted due to a flaw in the On-Board Inert Gas Generating System (OBIGGS), used to prevent a fuel-tank explosion in case of a lightning strike. A fix has gone through a critical design review and will be put into place for the LRIP-7 models, with a retrofit option also in development for the older production platforms...."

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20 ... /309180026

The Sheriff has been whistling a more upbeat tune of late, so, so different from the original grenade-throwing Bogdan and his "take no prisoners" mindset.

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

Turning the Corner

The F-35 program is "really, really close" to turning the corner and becoming a truly healthy program, Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer, told the Daily Report. He said he'll be satisfied the program has really turned around when production "really starts to ramp up" and after the next year or so of software and weapons testing—all the "really hard stuff" of operational testing. Once past that point, Bogdan said he thinks the program will not only be on track, but will cost less than fourth generation fighters. Progress has been good and costs are consistently coming down, he noted in the Sept. 17 interview. In his speech that same day at AFA's 2013 Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md., Bogdan said the services "are committed not to breaking this program" and will do what's necessary to keep it moving forward. In 10 years, Bogdan predicted, "people will look back and say, 'What was all the fuss about?'" The F-35, he said, will by then be seen as the obvious solution to "what we need" and will still have "great growth potential."