F-35 program updates

Nice I remember people doubting if lockheed could meet their deadline after a production delay due to corrosion.

So Flight was completely wrong. Useless.

Not only but also.... nothing F-35 related can be celebrated at FLIGHT turning into AvWeak (didna realise Av Leak).

THE ALTERNATIVE F-35 PROGRAM UPDATE - GLASS HALF? ANAL... for sure....

ANALYSIS: The year in review, 2017's top stories in aerospace
18 Dec 2017 FlightGlobal.com

"...F-35: LIGHTNING STRIKES?
The Pentagon’s most expensive procurement programme to date experienced yet another year of taking two steps forward and one step back. Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter made a series of momentous transatlantic flights, with delivery to the Royal Norwegian Air Force in November and the F-35A's Paris air show debut in June. But the embattled-though-barely-battle-ready fighter is still plagued by protracted repairs, corrosion issues and development delays.

During the annual Air, Space and Cyber conference in September, the F-35's new programme executive, US Navy Vice Adm Mat Winter, announced the Joint Program Office was considering keeping scores of F-35s equipped with a non-combat rated software operating system.

Lockheed has already delivered more than 108 with Block 2B software and each fighter would require more than 150 modifications to reach the combat-ready Block 3 standard. The modifications could threaten coffers reserved for the coming production ramp up, which will see more than 900 aircraft delivered over the next five years.

The F-35A made its Paris debut this summer, flying a square loop over the fields of Le Bourget and standing out on the static display. Even its grounded [? wot a dick - can one do a square loop on the ground? - better word choices for this aviation HACK please] presence marked a notable event for US stealth aircraft at the show, after controversy over possible French industrial espionage broke out after the last static display in 1991, when the F-117 Nighthawk visited.

But behind the Joint Strike Fighter's pomp and circumstance, reporters at the show pressed US Air Force officials to address ongoing oxygen issues with F-35As stationed at Luke AFB in Arizona. Luke AFB grounded its F-35A fleet on 9 June, after five pilots experienced "hypoxia-like symptoms" over the previous month. The base did not lift altitude restrictions on the aircraft until early August, though the USAF had not identified the root cause of physiological events that prompted the base's decision to restrict its F-35 squadrons' flying operations.

Despite its development difficulties, Lockheed and the F-35 weathered its first year in the Trump administration. After decrying the programme a year ago on his Twitter account, the president appeared to have a change of heart with the stealth aircraft. Procurement for the F-35 remained steady in the White House's fiscal year 2018 defence budget request and Congress outlined additional F-35 orders in its defence spending bills.

Lockheed may be heading into a more optimistic 2018 with its tempestuous customer to the north, though. Canada is reopening its next-generation fighter contract for bids and expects to award by 2021. Initially rebuffed by prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party, Lockheed's F-35 could fare better in a future fighter competition after Boeing's commercial arm sparked a international trade dispute over allegedly unfair subsidies to Canadian aerospace champion Bombardier's CSeries jetliner project...."

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... in-443653/

Spaz: I sincerely hope you (and everyone else for that matter) didn't have to pay for this so-called analysis.

So many agencies - what do they accomplish? LM says it would deliver 66 F-35s this year (without further detail) & it did.

Lockheed Late Delivering Its F-35s for Fourth Consecutive Year
20 Dec 2017 Anthony Capaccio

"Defense contract agency uses different metrics from contractor
-Nine of the planes were supposed to be delivered previous year

Lockheed Martin Corp. failed to meet delivery timelines set out in contracts for its F-35 jet for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Pentagon’s contract management agency. It’s a less upbeat assessment of Lockheed’s performance than was offered earlier this week by the No. 1 U.S. defense contractor, which said it met its “2017 delivery commitment” of 66 planes.

While the company -- and the Defense Department’s own F-35 program office -- count how many of the fighter jets were turned over in a calendar year based on an agreed-on commitment, the Defense Contract Management Agency zeroes in on the monthly delivery dates set out in production contracts.

The 66 planes delivered in 2017 included nine from the planes’ eighth production contract that were supposed to be ready in 2016, according to the contract agency. Of the remaining 57, 23 were late based on the monthly “contractual requirements,” Mark Woodbury, a spokesman for the agency, said in an email. The agency said in February that Lockheed “did not meet contract requirements in 2014, 2015 or 2016” but has begun to improve its performance.

‘Hard Work’
At the time, Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office, said the company and the Pentagon “established a joint committee to deliver 66 aircraft.” DellaVedova said in an email Tuesday that both the contract management agency and Lockheed recognize the importance of setting goals and resolving issues.

Lockheed said in an emailed statement that the company “and the F-35 Joint Program Office established a joint commitment to deliver 66 F-35 aircraft in 2017, and on Dec. 15. 2017, we delivered on that commitment.” The contractor noted that the Defense Contract Management Agency “focuses on aircraft-specific contract dates, while our annual target focuses on our total goal for the year.”..."

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... utive-year

This is the same DCMA that forecasted last April that LM would deliver only 57 aircraft in 2017.

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-pent ... story.html

Seems the DCMA "failed" to forecast accurately.

'QS' story above the last para says: "...Lockheed's Babione said the company works closely with the contract management agency because "it's a team sport here – we can't deliver the airplane without them. I think they will always look at it perhaps in a more pessimistic manner than we will."" The DCMA ain't playin' brudda. They have to justify their existence.

They have to justify wasting Tax Payer $ on a redundant branch of the government that isn't well informed and serve petty political interests.

Ironically the program officer for the original Lightning was a 1LT...

I miss Bogdan's video updates.

Check Six: Top F-35 Moments of 2017

F-25 By the Numbers (Feb 2018)

These are always so epic.

You think that is EPIC - how 'bout this for StinkyWorks changes - can't wait for the EPIC VIDEO.

Lockheed names new program leaders for F-35, Skunk Works
01 Mar 2018 Daniel Cebul

"WASHINGTON ― Lockheed Martin is reshuffling its program leadership, announcing Thursday that the executive vice president and general manager of the F-35 program, Jeff Babione, will be elevated to vice president and general manager of advanced development programs ― also known as Skunk Works. Babione will replace the retiring Rob Weiss on March 19. Weiss has been at the company for almost 34 years after spending nearly a decade in the U.S. Navy.

Greg Ulmer, currently the vice president of the F-35 aircraft production business unit, will take up Babione’s position at the Joint Strike Fighter program...."

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/industry/20 ... unk-works/

As was posted by Spaz here: viewtopic.php?f=54&t=53942

Full Block 3F flight envelope and weapons capability delivered for the F-35A:

http://www.aviationweek.com/defense/f-3 ... ons-combat

F-35 Finally Can Use All Its Weapons In Combat

Mar 5, 2018 Lara Seligman | Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

The newest U.S. Air Force F-35s, both stateside at Hill AFB, Utah, and overseas in the Pacific, finally can employ the stealth fighter’s full suite of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons in combat.

The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) has delivered the flight clearances, simulators, threat information, and logistics system required for the Air Force’s F-35As equipped with the latest software load to employ all of its weapons throughout the full flight envelope, according to the JPO, Lockheed Martin and Air Force officials.

This milestone gives the Block 3F-configured F-35As assigned to the 34th Fighter Squadron stationed at Hill and those forward-deployed to Kadena Air Base, Japan—on North Korea’s doorstep—some lethal capabilities. The aircraft now can fire Raytheon’s short-range AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, the GAU-22 25mm gun, and Boeing’s precision-guided Small Diameter Bomb, all while flying up to 9Gs at 1.6 Mach.

The F-35A touched down in Kadena for its first operational deployment to the Pacific in November, a highly anticipated milestone that underlines the U.S. military’s commitment to allies in the region amid tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The “Rude Rams” F-35As join the “Green Knights” F-35Bs of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, which is permanently stationed at Iwakuni, Japan, significantly increasing the number of stealth F-35s in the region.

The 12 F-35As from Hill will be deployed to Kadena until May, a six-month rotation, as part of U.S. Pacific Command’s theater security package.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps short takeoff, vertical-landing F-35B and U.S. Navy F-35C carrier variant configured with the 3F software will be able to deploy with their full operational capability in May and June, respectively, F-35 Program Executive Officer (PEO) Vice Adm. Mat Winter said during a Feb. 28 media roundtable. For the F-35Cs, this means the aircraft will be able to deploy Raytheon’s AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) in combat and fly to 1.3 Mach.

There is one caveat—the final 3F simulator capability has been broken into two releases, Lockheed’s Executive Vice President for Aeronautics Orlando Carvalho said in a March 5 interview. The first release has been delivered for the 3F F-35As, he said.

Even though the F-35’s long development phase finally is drawing to a close, the JPO and Lockheed will continue working to modernize the aircraft with an updated threat library, logistics system and simulators, Winter said.

“We have warfighting capability today that is effective against the current threats and the ability to fight the fight for our U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force,” Winter said. “Is that good enough? It is absolutely effective and good enough for today, but as we look from our intelligence reports and the threat growth in 2025 [we must] ensure that we stay ahead of that growing threat so that the F-35 air system will remain technologically advanced on the battlefield well into the [century].”