Pentagon Acquisition Chief Doubts U
SMC’s July F-35 IOC Target
AWIN First
Amy Butler
Wed, 2014-10-29 14:38
It is growing more and more likely that July 1, 2015, will not mark the initial operational capability (IOC) declaration for the F-35B desired by the U.S. Marine Corps.
Despite years of Pentagon officials fervently holding firm to the milestone, Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall is opening the door to a delay. "It is going to be hard to hold to the July date," Kendall tells Aviation Week in an Oct. 28 interview. "I am pretty confident we can meet the threshold by the end of the year. And we will make it as close to July as we can."
In May 2013, the Pentagon outlined the F-35 IOC plans for the Air Force, Navy and Marines, and officials have adamantly stuck to those plans in part to quell very vocal skeptics targeting the $400 billion program after its many overruns. The Marines have planned an "objective" IOC for July 1, 2015, with a "threshold" date in December 2015.
"Our position has not changed for the moment. We are still tracking to a 1 July IOC," says Capt. Dustin Pratico, Marine spokesman. "With that said, we are aware that there are risks to making that timeline. Throughout this process, there have been a sequence of separate pieces of the IOC effort that have moved out as late as October of 2015, and to date we have been able to create efficiencies in the process that have pulled the timeline back to 1 July."
Pratico says there are multiple planning models, and the current risk assessment for achieving the needed aircraft modifications and training work points to a mid-August IOC. "This is not the farthest overshoot we have seen and today we have a much better handle on what is required to manage the timeline," he says. "With all of that said, we concur with [recently retired USMC Commandant] Gen. [James] Amos and Mr. Kendall’s recent comments that there is some risk that we could IOC a few weeks after the target of 1 July, but we are well ahead of the threshold requirement of December 2015."
Marine IOC includes the first squadron, VMFA-121, with 10-16 F-35Bs and enough trained pilots and maintenance officials to deploy for war. The first F-35B unit is slated for its initial deployment in 2017 to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.
The Marines have maintained the most aggressive schedule among F-35 customers because of concern for its aging F-18s and AV-8Bs; F-35B development was prioritized over that of the Air Force and Navy variants earlier in the program to satisfy the Marines’ pressing need.
The service initially will use the fighter’s 2B software package, which is limited in capability, to conduct basic close air support and interdiction activities. Weapons included in the initial package are the AIM-120C7 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, Joint Direct Attack Munition and GBU-12 laser-guided bomb.
The likeliest culprit for missing the IOC date next summer is the time required to modify enough F-35Bs to the proper configuration, F-35 Program Executive Officer USAF Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan warned this fall.
This work is not made easier as the program is focused on returning the test and operational fleets to normal flying status after a June 23 F-35A engine fire prompted a temporary fleetwide grounding followed by limited flight operations pending an accident investigation.
The F-35 Joint Program Office and F135 prime contractor Pratt and Whitney have narrowed down the potential fixes to a single preferred one, but approval still is required to move forward.
The root cause of the engine fire was too narrow a trench in the abradable strip lining the third stage of the integrally bladed rotor; this allowed for the stators to rub the lining. Excessive friction led to a 1,900F internal temperature, nearly twice what is expected in that section, and microcracking in the stators eventually caused them to break apart.
The initial problem with this aircraft occurred three weeks prior to the fire when a pilot conducted a routine ridge-riding maneuver that combined yaw, roll and gs. Such a maneuver had not been done on such a new aircraft.
In earlier jets, the trench surrounding the stators was gently "burned in," unbeknownst to developers and operators, because these were the jets used to slowly open the flight envelope.
Meanwhile, the program office is conducting a methodical "burn-in" process for its test fleet to allow them to return to normal flying status and move forward with testing as planned. The fourth jet of 20 in the flight test fleet is undergoing that process now, according to JPO spokeswoman Kyra Hawn.
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