F-35 Lightning II developments

[Piet Luijken]

SECOND F-35A REACHES 500 FLIGHT HOUR MILESTONE


EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Jan. 23, 2013 – The second Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, known as AF-1, joined the 500 flight hour club recently during its 272nd flight. It joins AF-2 which passed the milestone June 26, 2012.The conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) fighter begin flight operations when it made its inaugural flight Nov. 14, 2009. The F-35A flight test program has completed more than 43 percent of its overall test plan. Overall, the program’s three variants have achieved nearly 5,900 flight hours by 55 aircraft in the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) and Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) programs.

[Coati]

Problem of F-35B found, B fleet expected to be cleared for flight ops soon again:

Engineers discover culprit behind F-35B fueldraulic line failure

By: Dave Majumdar Washington DC

Engineers working on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) have identified the likely culprit behind a fueldraulic line failure on 16 January that led to the temporary grounding of the US Marine Corps' B-model aircraft.

"Government and industry engineering teams investigating the origins of a failed propulsion fueldraulic line on an F-35B Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant have identified the probable cause and are developing a return to flight plan to lift the suspension of flight operations," the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) says.

According to the JPO, engineers have ruled out any design or maintenance problems. "Evidence revealed a quality discrepancy from the company that produces the fueldraulics line," the JPO says. "The investigation determined the line was improperly crimped."

The investigating team found that six other aircraft had the same manufacturing defect. The faulty parts have been returned to F-35 propulsion system prime contractor Pratt & Whitney for replacement. The fueldraulic line is built by Stratoflex. The company, along with Rolls-Royce and Pratt &Whitney, has "instituted corrective actions to improve their quality control processes and ensure part integrity," the JPO says.

The fueldraulic line powers the actuator movement for the F-35B's STOVL vectoring exhaust system. Instead of traditional hydraulic fluid, the system uses fuel as the operating fluid to reduce weight.

NAVAIR and the JPO are currently "developing a return to flight plan which details the removal and inspection requirements of currently installed fueldraulic lines on the 25 F-35B variants affected by the flight suspension." The B-model has been grounded since 18 January, but the US Air Force's F-35A and US Navy F-35C were not affected.


http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... re-381574/

[Piet Luijken]

Lockheed Martin announced that its technicians are installing the wings on the 100th F-35 strike fighter built to date on the company's production line in Fort Worth, Tex. This airframe is an Air Force F-35A model, designated AF-41, that is destined for assignment at Luke AFB, Ariz., the future home of F-35A pilot training, according to the company's release. Overall, the Air Force has plans to procure 1,763 F-35As. Of the first 100 F-35s, 40 have been for the Air Force: AF-1 through AF-41, with no AF-5 built in the series. The remaining 60 jets comprise 37 Marine Corps F-35Bs, 12 Navy F-35Cs, six ground test aircraft, three British jets, and two Dutch strike fighters. The very first F-35, a non-production-representative F-35A test jet dubbed AA-1, is not included in the 100.

[Piet Luijken]

The 58th Aircraft Maintenance Unit produced a four-turn-four for the 58th Fighter Squadron flying Jan 31. "The pilots flew four F-35As in the morning and the maintainers performed routine maintenance for airworthiness after landing. Then the crew chiefs 'turned' them around so the four jets could be flown in the afternoon," said Col. Andrew Toth, the commander of the 33d Fighter Wing and one of the aviators in the formation. That was the first F-35 four-turn-four at the wing. Following up the successful flights, the team did the same Feb. 1 with a four-turn-two. During the Jan. 31 training flights, the pilots were using their advanced radar systems to track F-16 "adversaries" over the Gulf of Mexico.

Additionally, the maintainers had spare F-35As ready to go in the event of any issues in flight proving their ability to prepare the Air Force's newest fighter jet for basic pilot training. While turning jets and flying multiple aircraft in formation is standard operations at an established flying training unit, for the 33d Fighter Wing, it was another step forward to self-sufficiency. Subsequently, it boosted morale. "It was good to pull that off last week knowing recent weather can cancel flights," said Senior Master Sgt. Eric Wheeler, the production superintendent with 58th AMU. "I can't control the weather...everything else I control. The jets took off without any issues, the pilots flew their scheduled times. They all landed safely and the aircraft downloaded correctly."

Unique to the JSF, the downloaded data is inputted into the autonomic logistics information system that tracks the health of the jet in a computer based diagnostics and logistics system. Contracted logistic support by Lockheed Martin is steadily giving way to 58th AMU crew chiefs as the Airmen become more proficient in maintaining the F-35A. LM will continue to support other variants and international partners.

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedmartin/8452977175/

Production of the Second Netherlands F-35

Teams at the Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas, work on the second F-35A for the Royal Netherlands Air Force in December 2012.

[Richard from Rotterdam]

Dutch minister of defence: Delays make JSF testing much more expensive, possibly doubling the cost.

Quick summary:

"According to the Dutch minister of defence, delays in the JSF programme mean that in stead of operational testing of the (Dutch) F-35 commencing in 2012 and taking 2,5 years, the operational testing will only commence in 2015 and will take four years. The costs for the Dutch ministry of defence will rise from a predicted 27,5 million euros to at least 47 million euros and might actually jump to 55 million.

With both Dutch F-35s ready for handover this year, the Dutch ministry of defence has tried to lease them back to the USA, but the Pentagon refused citing a lack of funds. So the two Dutch F-35s will most probably be mothballed until 2015."

All in all good going then! And a great way to waste our tax-euros...

http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/02/09/ver ... -mogelijk/

9 februari 2013, 20:05
Vertraging maakt testen JSF fors duurder – verdubbeling mogelijk


F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Foto AFP

door Niels Posthumus
BINNENLAND De kosten voor het testen van de Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), het toestel dat de F-16-straaljagers van de luchtmacht moet gaan vervangen, lopen flink op. De testvluchten kosten de komende jaren niet 27,1 miljoen euro, zoals eerder werd gedacht, maar kunnen zelfs verdubbelen.
De kosten lopen op doordat de testfase later begint en langer duurt, blijkt uit een brief van minister van Defensie Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert aan de Kamer, schrijft persbureau Novum.

In 2008 werd nog gedacht dat de zogeheten operationele testfase in het voorjaar van 2012 zouden beginnen en tweeënhalf jaar zouden duren. In de huidige planning wordt de JSF pas vanaf begin 2015 getest, en dat vier jaar lang. Nederland moet het eerste testtoestel echter al eind maart afnemen. Het tweede testtoestel komt waarschijnlijk ook dit jaar nog.

Een poging om de JSF’s, officieel F-35 genoemd, tot het begin van de testfase te leasen aan de Verenigde Staten liep op niets uit. Het Pentagon had daarvoor geen geld. Daarom moet defensie de toestellen ergens stallen of al eerder gaan deelnemen aan de tests. De kosten lopen daardoor op tot minstens 47 miljoen en mogelijk zelfs 55 miljoen euro.

De hogere kosten kunnen volgens de minister worden afgeschreven op de post reserveringen. Op 3 april wil Hennis de Kamer nader informeren over de planning voor de komende jaren.

Behalve op de hogere kosten voor de testfase wijst Hennis in haar brief ook op voortdurende onzekerheid in de Verenigde Staten over de JSF. Als het conflict tussen president Barack Obama en het Congres over de begroting leidt tot bezuinigingen, kunnen die ook het JSF-programma raken.

Bovendien ligt er een advies om de ontwikkelingsfase van het toestel niet te laten overlappen met de operationele testfase. Als het Amerikaanse ministerie van defensie dit advies overneemt, kan ook dat gevolgen hebben voor de planning.

Coalitiepartijen VVD en PvdA spraken in het regeerakkoord af eind dit jaar te beslissen of behalve de testtoestellen nog meer JSF’s worden gekocht ter vervanging van de oude F-16′s. Doordat de toestellen steeds duurder worden, kunnen er steeds minder worden aangeschaft. In plaats van 85 toestellen kunnen er nog maar 56 worden betaald. Daarvoor moet al worden beknibbeld op andere onderdelen van de krijgsmacht.

[PilotoRico]

Coalitiepartijen VVD en PvdA spraken in het regeerakkoord af eind dit jaar te beslissen of behalve de testtoestellen nog meer JSF’s worden gekocht ter vervanging van de oude F-16′s. Doordat de toestellen steeds duurder worden, kunnen er steeds minder worden aangeschaft. In plaats van 85 toestellen kunnen er nog maar 56 worden betaald. Daarvoor moet al worden beknibbeld op andere onderdelen van de krijgsmacht.

Eigenlijk absurd dat er wellicht meer moet worden beknibbeld op de toch al karig bedeelde krijgsmacht om toch maar steeds weer mee te willen doen met de JSF. We hadden allang hier uit moeten stappen..... En maar blijven roepen dat dit echt de beste oplossing is. Yeah... right. F#&c JSF.

[Richard from Rotterdam]

From Flightglobal: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ct-381683/


Reduced F-35 performance specifications may have significant operational impact
Print
By: DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC 11:25 30 Jan 2013 Source:

The Pentagon's decision to reduce the performance specifications for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will have a significant operational impact, a number of highly experienced fighter pilots consulted by Flightglobal concur. But the careful development of tactics and disciplined employment of the jet may be able to mitigate some of those shortcomings.

"This is going to have a big tactical impact," one highly experienced officer says. "Anytime you have to lower performance standards, the capability of what the airframe can do goes down as well."


Lockheed Martin

The US Department of Defense's decision to relax the sustained turn performance of all three variants of the F-35 was revealed earlier this month in the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation 2012 report. Turn performance for the US Air Force's F-35A was reduced from 5.3 sustained g's to 4.6 sustained g's. The F-35B had its sustained g's cut from five to 4.5 g's, while the US Navy variant had its turn performance truncated from 5.1 to five sustained g's. Acceleration times from Mach 0.8 to Mach 1.2 were extended by eight seconds, 16 seconds and 43 seconds for the A, B and C-models respectively. The baseline standard used for the comparison was a clean Lockheed F-16 Block 50 with two wingtip Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAMs. "What an embarrassment, and there will be obvious tactical implications. Having a maximum sustained turn performance of less than 5g is the equivalent of an [McDonnell Douglas] F-4 or an [Northrop] F-5," another highly experienced fighter pilot says. "[It's] certainly not anywhere near the performance of most fourth and fifth-generation aircraft."

At higher altitudes, the reduced performance will directly impact survivability against advanced Russian-designed "double-digit" surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems such as the Almaz-Antey S-300PMU2 (also called the SA-20 Gargoyle by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), the pilot says. At lower altitudes, where fighters might operate in for the close air support or forward air control role, the reduced airframe performance will place pilots at increased risk against shorter-range SAMs and anti-aircraft artillery.

Most egregious is the F-35C-model's drastically reduced transonic acceleration capabilities. "That [43 seconds] is a massive amount of time, and assuming you are in afterburner for acceleration, it's going to cost you even more gas," the pilot says. "This will directly impact tactical execution, and not in a good way."

Pilots typically make the decision to trade a very high rate of fuel consumption for supersonic airspeeds for one of two reasons. "They are either getting ready to kill something or they are trying to defend against something [that's trying to kill] them," the pilot says. "Every second counts in both of those scenarios. The longer it takes, the more compressed the battle space gets. That is not a good thing."


Lockheed Martin

While there is no disputing that the reduced performance specifications are a negative development, there may be ways to make up for some of the F-35's less than stellar kinematic performance.

Pilots will have to make extensive use of the F-35's stealth characteristics and sensors to compensate for performance areas where the jet has weaknesses, sources familiar with the aircraft say. But engagement zones and maneuvering ranges will most likely be driven even further out against the most dangerous surface-to-air threats.

In an air-to-air engagement, for example, tactics would have to be developed to emphasize stealth and beyond visual range (BVR) combat. If a visual range engagement is unavoidable, every effort would have to be taken to enter the "merge" from a position of advantage, which should be possible, given the F-35's stealth characteristics.

Once engaged within visual range, given the F-35's limitations and relative strengths, turning should be minimized in favor of using the jet's Northrop Grumman AAQ-37 distributed aperture system of infrared cameras, helmet-mounted display and high off-boresight missiles to engage the enemy aircraft. If a turning fight is unavoidable, the F-35 has good instantaneous turn performance and good high angle of attack (50°AOA limit) performance comparable to a Boeing F/A-18 Hornet, which means a similar strategy could be adopted if one finds him or herself in such a situation.


Lockheed Martin

Lockheed, for its part, maintains that the F-35 has performance superior to that of any "legacy" fighter at high altitudes. "Having flown over 4000 hours in fighter jets, I will tell you the F-35's capability at altitude, mostly driven by the internal carriage of those weapons, as a combat airplane, this airplane exceeds the capabilities of just any legacy fighter that I'm familiar with in this kind of regime," says Steve O'Bryan, the company's business development director for the F-35 during a January interview.

But much of the discussion is theoretical at this point, the F-35 has not been operationally tested, nor have tactics been developed for the aircraft's usage. How the aircraft will eventually fare once fully developed and fielded is an open question.

[Coati]

Eight OT F-35As will be delivered before the end of February to Edwards (4x to 31st TES) and Nellis (4x to 422 TES):

Operational testers to receive first F-35s this month [Feb 2013] by Dave Majumdar 11 Feb 2013

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... th-382189/

"Operational testers at Edwards AFB, California, are expected to receive their first Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) on 21 February. A sister squadron at Nellis AFB, Nevada, is expected to receive their first F-35s about a week later.

"Edwards is getting four Block 1B jets tentatively on 21 February," says a senior US Air Force official. "About 7-10 days later, Nellis will get four Block 2A jets."

The operational test units were originally supposed to receive their first aircraft about eight months ago, the official notes. "We're just waiting for the final ACC [Air Combat Command] approval to take delivery," he says. The two USAF operational test squadrons, both of which fall under the auspices of the 53rd Test and Evaluation Group at Nellis AFB, currently have six qualified F-35 pilots between them....

...The "Block 1Bs have actually had a few more systems 'released' which means we can get a few more things turned on and working," the official says.

The aircraft which are going to be assigned to the 422nd TES at Nellis AFB will have the more advanced Block 2A training software installed. The Block 2A configuration adds greater sensor systems and data fusion functionality along with some simulated weapons capability....

...Formal operational test and evaluation will afford the USAF and the other US services and partner nations a chance to evaluate the F-35 weapons system under realistic combat conditions...."

Further:

CF-6 (168733/NJ-101) made its first flight the 14th of February. This is the first production F-35C which will be delivered to Eglin in April 2013 (together with 6 other F-35s)

And BF-20 made its first orientation flight from Yuma for the Marine Corps the 21st of February. VMFA-121 received 3 F-35Bs by the end of last year. The three aircraft were used for training of mainenance crews and will now be used to start flight operations.

[tally]

09-5004/OT "31 TES" and 09-5006/OT were on the runway as Strike 11/12 to be delivered yesterday. However one developed problems with its GPS and therefore both went ground aboard back to the hangar. They will fly through Luke for a fuel stop and on to Edwards.

[Rockville]

All F-35 are grounded, due to crack in engine blade.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/ ... 0U20130222

[Piet Luijken]

F-35s Grounded as Precaution After Crack Found in Engine Blade

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2013 -- All F-35s have been grounded as a precaution after a routine engine inspection revealed a crack on an engine blade, Defense Department officials said here today.

Officials call this a "cautionary suspension of flight". The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps fly F-35s.

Inspectors found the crack in an F135 engine installed in an F-35A Lightning II aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. This is the conventional take-off and landing version of the joint strike fighter.

Officials are shipping the engine and its associated hardware to Pratt & Whitney's engine facility in Middletown, Conn., to conduct more thorough evaluation and root cause analysis.

Officials said the grounding is precautionary. All F-35 flight operations have been suspended until the investigation is complete, officials said, and it is too early to know the fleetwide impact.

"The F-35 Joint Program Office is working closely with Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Martin at all F-35 locations to ensure the integrity of the engine and to return the fleet safely to flight as soon as possible," a Defense Department news release said.

===================================

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 103-13

February 22, 2013

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

F-35 Cautionary Suspension of Flight Operations: F135 Engine Crack

A routine engine inspection revealed a crack on an engine blade of the F135 engine installed in F-35A aircraft AF-2 operating at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Engineering teams are shipping the engine's turbine module and its associated hardware to Pratt & Whitney's Engine Facility in Middletown, Conn., to conduct more thorough evaluation and root cause analysis.

As a precautionary measure, all F-35 flight operations have been suspended until the investigation is complete. It is too early to know the fleet-wide impact of the recent finding. The F-35 Joint Program Office is working closely with Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Martin at all F-35 locations to ensure the integrity of the engine, and to return the fleet safely to flight as soon as possible.

[Piet Luijken]

Taken from DutchNews.com:

US manufacturer expects major JSF fighter jet sales
Friday 22 February 2013

American aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin has told the Financieele Dagblad it is fully confident the Netherlands will buy 85 of the controversial JSF fighter jets, despite doubts in the Dutch parliament.

'We have an agreement with the Netherlands to deliver 85 aircraft,' director Stephen O'Bryan told the paper. 'Our information is that this will go ahead.'

There are growing doubts in the Netherlands about the wisdom of investing at least €4bn in the project and in so many planes. The project has also been plagued by delays, technical problems and soaring budgets.

'That is all part of the process, in this phase as well,' director Kristy Mayfield said during an interview in Fort Worth, where the planes are being made.

[Richard from Rotterdam]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... d=obinsite

Interesting article on the F-35 project from Time Magazine.

some excerpts:

Marine Major Aric "Walleye" Liberman was uncharacteristically modest for a Navy SEAL turned fighter pilot. He had just landed an F-35--one of the 2,457 jets the Pentagon plans to buy for $400 billion, making it the costliest weapons program in human history--at its initial operational base late last year. Amid celebratory hoopla, he declined photographers' requests to give a thumbs-up for the cameras that sunny day in Yuma, Ariz. "No, no, no," he demurred with a smile.

Liberman's reticence was understandable. For while the Marines hailed his arrival as a sign that their initial F-35 squadron is now operational, there's one sticking point. "It's an operational squadron," a Marine spokesman said. "The aircraft is not operational."

The F-35, designed as the U.S. military's lethal hunter for 21st century skies, has become the hunted, a poster child for Pentagon profligacy in a new era of tightening budgets. Instead of the stars and stripes of the U.S. Air Force emblazoned on its fuselage, it might as well have a bull's-eye. Its pilots' helmets are plagued with problems, it hasn't yet dropped or fired weapons, and the software it requires to go to war remains on the drawing board.

That's why when Liberman landed his F-35 before an appreciative crowd, including home-state Senator John McCain, he didn't demonstrate its most amazing capability: landing like a helicopter using its precision-cast titanium thrust-vectoring nozzle. That trick remains reserved for test pilots, not operational plane drivers like him.

The resulting bastard child was a compromise, not optimum for any one service but good enough for all three. Neither the Air Force nor the Navy liked its stubby design. The F-35C's squat fuselage puts its tailhook close to its landing gear (7 ft., compared with 18 on the F-18 it is replacing), making it tough to grab the arresting cable on an aircraft carrier. Its short range means aircraft carriers ferrying it into battle will have to sail close to enemy shores if the F-35C is to play a role. It can fly without lumbering aerial tankers only by adding external fuel tanks, which erases the stealthiness that is its prime war-fighting asset.

Cramming the three services into the program reduced management flexibility and put the taxpayer in a fiscal headlock. Each service had the leverage generated by threatening to back out of the program, which forced cost into the backseat, behind performance. "The Air Force potentially could have adopted the Navy variant, getting significantly more range and structural durability," says John Young Jr., a top Navy and Pentagon civilian official from 2001 to 2009. "But the Air Force leadership refused to consider such options."

Pilots love the F-35. There are few gauges, buttons or knobs in the cockpit. "What you have in front of you is a big touchscreen display--it's an interface for the iPad generation," says Marine Colonel Arthur Tomassetti, an F-35 test pilot. "You have an airplane that with very small movements of your left and right hand does what you want it to do. And if you don't want it to do anything, it stays where you left it." That makes it easy to fly. "I'm watching the emerald-colored sea up against the white sand," Tomassetti says of his flights from Florida's Eglin Air Force Base along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. "I remember lots of flights in other airplanes where I never had time to do anything like that."

[Coati]

Lockheed awarded $334 million contract for F-35 long lead items
28 Feb 2013 Dave Majumdar

The Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Lockheed Martin a $334 million fixed-price-incentive advance acquisition contract for long lead components for the eighth production lot of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The Low Rate Initial Production Lot VIII buy consists of 19 F-35 conventional take-off aircraft for the US Air Force, six F-35B short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) jets for the US Marine Corps and four US Navy F-35 carrier variant aircraft. Also included are four British F-35B STOVL jets and two F-35A-model fighters for Norway.

Out of the $335 million total value of the deal, the USAF's share is $155 million. The USN and USMC are chipping in $27 million and $85 million respectively. The UK is paying $45 million while Norway is on the hook for $21 million.

Work on the contract is expected to be completed by February 2014.

Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ms-382906/