F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

[Loachman]

"Flight Controls Y'all (pause) Flight Controls Y'all" would have been a nice touch, methinks - but then those damned Yankee Pilots might have started another War of Aggression.

 

[Loachman]

Fair enough, but if the political imperative is to shovel a billion or so unearned dollars into Bombardier, then doing some sort of deal with Dassault which, as a bonus, gives us a "not the F-35" aircraft might be as good a way as any ...

The rest of the Quebec aircraft industry, who stand to make a lot of money from F35 contracts, may make a bit of a fuss should that happen. That potential mess might give Pierr Justin's puppetmasters something to think about first - unless he makes another snap decision without consulting them.

 

[Good2Golf]

Old Sweat, did she also do the classic "Altitude, Altitude..."? ;D  (usually spoken just before the jet augers into the ground at 600kts)

G2G

 

[Old Sweat]

Indeed she did, adding she adopted a more urgent tone because of the severity of the situation.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Meanwhile more EA-18Gs for USN?

Growlers’ Success Prompts Rethinking Of Operations
Growlers are the ‘big dogs’ in electronic attack pack

As the U.S. Navy expands its EA-18G Growler operations, pilots remain keen on the aircraft’s electronic warfare performance.

The service says it has enough Boeing Growlers to meet requirements, but some analysts disagree, and the Pentagon is conducting an electronic warfare study that could require the acquisition of more EA-18Gs, the only aerial electronic attack weapon in the U.S. quiver.

There is no doubt Navy pilots appreciate what the Growler brings to a carrier strike group. “I finally felt like I had overwhelming advantage in the tactical arena,” says Capt. Jeffrey “Caesar” Czerewko, former air group commander aboard the CVN 76 USS Ronald Reagan, and now the Pentagon’s director of battlespace awareness.

A veteran F/A-18 pilot, he notes that Growlers have the capability he and other pilots wanted when they were flying as far back as the F/A-18C. “It has all the things I wish we had had in the ‘Charlie’ back in the day,” Czerewko says. He touts “the way it ‘talks’ with other airplanes. It’s incredible how much better we are with airborne electronic attack.”..

The Navy needs additional EA-18Gs, affirms the Hudson Institute, noting in a recent report that the force requires 11 EA-18Gs for each of the Navy’s 10 carrier and five expeditionary squadrons, a total of 165.

“The Navy’s current program of record calls for a total of 135 EA-18Gs,” or nine per squadron, the institute reports. “The Navy would need to procure an additional 30 EA-18Gs.” The Navy will have to rely more on EA-18G Growlers for future jamming missions, institute analysts say [emphasis added--would help keep production line going].

“Equipped with the Next Generation Jammer [under development by Raytheon], the EA-18G will be capable of providing coherent jamming at increased power, interrupting enemy effects chains,” the institute says. “This capability assists the penetration of not only F/A-18E/F aircraft or other joint force aircraft, but also F-35Cs. The proliferation of [enemy] L-band radars and other lower-frequency fire-control radars would counter the X-band optimization of the F-35C. The ability of the EA-18G to jam these other radars allows carrier strike and air warfare packages the ability to counter enemy sensors and provide jamming coverage for weapons, significantly increasing weapon probability of arrival.”..
http://aviationweek.com/defense/growlers-success-prompts-rethinking-operations

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CougarKing]

Meanwhile, in the UK:

UK announces F-35 infrastructure contracts

Source: IHS Jane's 360 - 7 April 2016

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded Lockheed Martin GBP142 million (USD200 million) for the building of new infrastructure at the future home base of the UK's F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike fighter (JSF) force.

The contract, announced on 7 April, will see three facilities built at Royal Air Force (RAF) Marham in Norfolk to support the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B to be fielded by the RAF and Royal Navy (RN).

Lockheed Martin has sub-contracted GBP118 million to BAE Systems to manage the building work by construction firm Balfour Beatty, with a Logistic Operations Centre, an Integrated Training Centre, and a Maintenance and Final Finishes Building to be erected. The work will begin later this month and is scheduled to be completed in 2018, to coincide with the arrival of the 617 'Dambusters' Squadron and the first aircraft at the station.

(...SNIPPED)

caption: Work on the new facilities is to begin later this month, and be complete in time for the arrival of the first aircraft at RAF Marham in 2018. Source: BAE Systems

 

[FSTO]

I know this article is two years old. But I still not sold that we really need the F-35. Is Canada really ever going to be part of the first strike aircraft heading into mainland China or Russia?
Also why not wait until F-35D or F when the bugs are all worked out?

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-right-fighter-for-canada-is-the-super-hornet-not-t-1587492909

 

[PuckChaser]

There's not going to be a F-35D or F. They're going to just upgrade the software. If there's a mechanical fault, it gets fixed by a recall like your car.

You could cut about half the requirements out of the CSC or can the submarine fleet using your same logic.

 

[MilEME09]

I don't see it as a first strike aircraft at all, with stealth is it capable of such a tactic? Yes, but when dealing with advanced Air defense assets Russia, and to some extent China are selling, a stealthy aircraft is required for SEAD, and strike operations until air dominance is achieved. A 40N6 long range missile from a S-400 battery has a reported range of 400km, at a speed of mach 6+, if I was in anything but a stealth aircraft I wouldn't try to breach that airspace. Let alone the unknown that Russia is deploying the S-500 this year and phasing out all S-300 Batteries, an unknown air defense system makes the situation even worse.

 

[MarkOttawa]

ALIS still in a bit of Wonderland:

Risks seen with Lockheed's F-35 fighter logistics system

A failure in the computer-based logistics system that serves as the "brains" of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet could potentially ground the fleet because it lacks a back-up for processing data, according to a congressional report.

The Government Accountability Office, the research arm of Congress, on Thursday [April 14] released two reports on the $379 billion F-35 program, including one on the jet's $16.7 billion Autonomic Logistics Information System, or ALIS.

The second report, on the overall health of the Pentagon's biggest weapons program, said acquisition costs had decreased since 2014 and manufacturing efficiency was improving, but the program still faces difficult software testing and big affordability challenges in coming years.

ALIS supports everything from the plane's operations, pilot scheduling, mission planning and supply chain management to maintenance, making it one of the three major components of the jet, along with the airframe and engine.

The Pentagon's F-35 program manager, Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, has repeatedly cited concerns about ALIS, which is so large it could be a separate arms program.

However, earlier this year, Bogdan told reporters that the F-35 jets could operate for a month or more without being connected to the ALIS system.

The GAO report recommended the Pentagon develop a holistic plan to address myriad issues with ALIS to ensure that the most pressing problems are resolved before the start of full production, instead of dealing with issues on a piecemeal basis.

It also cited a Pentagon-commissioned study from 2013 that found any delays or problems with ALIS could drive the cost of the overall F-35 program up by $20 billion to $100 billion.

On Thursday, Bogdan said the F-35 program office had taken steps earlier this year to map out strategic priorities for ALIS and meet the needs of the program's increasing global footprint. He said the plan would be completed this summer, in time to help shape the fiscal 2018 budget request...
http://in.reuters.com/article/lockheed-fighter-idINL2N17H20W

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

More on ALIS in Wonderland problems (further links at original):

F-35 Will Fly Despite Auditor’s Fleet-Grounding Warning

The complexity of the aircraft’s diagnostics system is enormous, but Pentagon officials say the plane can fly without it.

Problems with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s logistics software will not keep the fleet from flying, the Pentagon says, contrary to a new Government Accountability Office, or GAO, report that hinted at a possible grounding.

In the report, which came out on Thursday [April 14], GAO officials say problems with one of the jet fighter’s software suites  are so severe that “it could take the entire F-35 fleet offline,” if there was a failure, in part because there’s no backup to the system.

Air Force Lt. Gen Chris Bogdan, the Pentagon’s 3-star general in charge of the F-35 program, earlier this year told reporters that the the plane could fly without the $16.7 billion Autonomic Logistics Information System, or ALIS, for at least 30 days. The software manages the aircraft’s supply chain, aircraft configuration, fault diagnostics, mission planning and debriefing, none of which are critical to combat flight. ALIS is also an off-board system. A Defense Department official involved in the program who spoke to Defense One on condition of anonymity about the GAO report also matter-of-factly said “no” the problems were not severe enough to ground the fleet. 

The complexity of ALIS is enormous. It’s more of a system of systems than a single product. “Legacy systems … you have to use three or four different things to get the work done. We tied all that together in one system of systems. You put the data in and it fills out in forty other places where normally you would have to go do work,” said the official. “It’s also constantly being improved.”..
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/04/f-35-will-fly-despite-auditors-fleet-grounding-warning/127561/?oref=DefenseOneTCO

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Pesky software matter:

Israel’s F-35 App And Its Implications
Has Israel set a precedent?

Israel has announced it will equip the F-35s it starts receiving this December with its own command, control, communications and computing (C4) system. The software, produced by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), is an upgrade of an existing C4 system the Israeli air force flies on its F-15 and F-16s.

By adapting proprietary software to the F-35, Israel has leveraged the strike fighter’s open-architecture software design long touted by Lockheed Martin and the Joint Program Office (JPO). In effect, IAI has written the first “app” for the F-35 and, arguably, set a precedent for F-35 software independence...
The ability to write its own apps is consistent with Israel’s general desire for a level of independence from U.S. control. This emphasis on flexibility is evidenced by its push for an exemption from the JPO to carry out maintenance work in-country, rather than at predetermined Lockheed Martin-established logistics centers in Europe and elsewhere. 

“The idea is to give the [Israeli air force] the opportunity and capability to add new applications without the [backbone] system blocking that opportunity,” Cohen adds. “If you decide to add another system, another missile, another capability, you do not need to touch the mission system, you just add the new application.”

Simply adding a new application sounds appealing and efficient, but the JPO sounds a cautionary, and possibly conflicting, note on the precedent of JSF partners writing their own apps.

“By U.S. government policy, any integration of F-35 software must be done with U.S. government oversight and with the two prime contractors’ involvement. Having open architecture systems on the F-35 will make it easier to integrate future improvements onto the aircraft, but it does not equate to every country or industry having free rein to integrate their own add-on software and systems,” says the JPO.

Whether or not JSF partners add their own apps and functionality, the schedule for U.S. software updates once the program concludes its developmental phase could provide additional motivation to operate independently.

According to the JPO, hardware and software releases will alternate on a four-year schedule. A software release will be followed two years later by a hardware release and so on. But it is a schedule that simply does not align with software development and operational realities...
http://aviationweek.com/defense/israel-s-f-35-app-and-its-implications

Lots more. 

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Kirkhill]

About that stabilized software Mark....  ;D

 

[MarkOttawa]

In absence F-35s got to keep classic Hornets and Supers flying (trust RCAF learning from classics' SLEP to keep CF-18s going to 2025...)--note USN plans to fly Supers till 2040s and that production line staying open a while yet (near end):

[US] Navy Digging Out Of Fighter Shortfall; Marines Still Struggling To Fly At Home
https://news.usni.org/2016/04/26/navy-digging-out-of-fighter-shortfall-marines-still-struggling-to-fly-at-home

Mark
Ottawa

 

[jmt18325]

I have my doubts that the production line is near its end.  I have a feeling that more orders will be forthcoming.  Too many jobs.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Three-star in charge sees light at end of software tunnel for USAF:

F-35 Chief: Software Bugs No Longer a Threat To IOC

The software bugs that have plagued the F-35 program for months are largely resolved and no longer pose a threat to the Air Force’s goal of declaring its jets operational this year, according to the program chief.

The problem lies with the next increment of software, Block 3i, which the Air Force requires to declare initial operational capability. For F-35s using the original 3i software, the jets’ systems would shut down about once every three or four hours and have to be rebooted. This “choking” effect is caused in essence by a timing misalignment of the software of the plane’s sensors and the software of its main computers.

The joint program office and F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin identified the root cause, incorporated a fix, and have nearly finished flight tests of an updated software load, JPO chief Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan told reporters on Tuesday [April 26].

The team has flown 44 flights and 96 hours with the new software, and is now seeing a huge improvement in stability Bogdan said after an April 26 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The jets can fly for about 15 hours between shutdown events, he said, which is more than the eight to ten hours of stability the program office deemed “good enough.”

All of the testing of the improved 3i software will be finished by the end of the week, Bogdan said.

“I’ll make a decision at the end of this week whether that version of 3i software is it, I’m leaning towards it being it,” Bogdan said. "That’s going to be the version of software that the Air Force declares IOC with.”

The JPO will eventually retrofit all of the existing jets with the new, updated software, Bogdan said. The team will also incorporate the 3i fixes into the next increment of software planned for the F-35, called Block 3F...
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/04/26/f-35-chief-software-bugs-no-longer-threat-ioc/83553372/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Meanwhile ALIS still trying to get out of Wonderland:

F-35 Joint Program Office Working Through Lingering Software Issues

The F-35’s logistics information system’s inability to integrate engine data with other vital information about the aircraft is causing a two-month delay in the Air Force reaching its initial operating capability and forcing Marines to use “lots of time-consuming work-arounds” to keep their F-35 Lightning II’s flying.

On Tuesday [April 26] before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the program executive officer, said the difficulty of having the Pratt & Whitney engine software talk to the Lockheed-Martin aircraft software and integrate that data with the Air Force’s system is a challenge that his office “understands where the difficulties are” and is addressing.

In his assessment of the autonomic logistics information system’s performance with the Marine Corps, Michael Gilmore, director of the Pentagon’s Operational Test and Evaluation office, said there still is “too much reliance on sending parts back” to the manufacturer rather than fixing them on board ship or ashore that require too many contractors to be present. He said those maintenance conditions were “not acceptable in combat.”

The Pentagon’s top acquisition official, Frank Kendall agreed there is a “suite of a lot of things that have to happen” from integrating data not only from manufacturers but fusing data from other aircraft to be worked out.

Gilmore said the goal with the proposed upgrade of the sophisticated logistics system to be delivered soon will have an “impact not just now but through [the F-35’s] lifecycle.” As for fusing data from other aircraft to better assist pilots in combat, he added, “It will require a lot of reiterative testing, fix, test.”

Michael Sullivan, from the General Accountability Office, said even with the changes in the program being made, the aircraft still poses “affordability challenges” well into the future...
https://news.usni.org/2016/04/26/f-35-joint-program-office-working-through-lingering-software-issues

Wish we had open and transparent hearings like that in Canada even if all is not sunny ways.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Kirkhill]

From the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/26/watch-unseen-video-of-britains-new-f-35b-fighter-jets-in-action/

Two interesting videos -

One claiming the RAF/RN will be flying 138 F35s with IOC in 2018.

The other a tour of the cockpit with some Canuck.

 

[SupersonicMax]

The other a tour of the cockpit with some Canuck.

Not just some Canuck, he's a senior test pilot on the F-35 program, working for LM.

 

[CougarKing]

Pesky software matter:

Ahem?

Defense News

F-35 Chief: Software Bugs No Longer a Threat To IOC
Lara Seligman, Defense News 5:54 p.m. EDT April 26, 2016

WASHINGTON – The software bugs that have plagued the F-35 program for months are largely resolved and no longer pose a threat to the Air Force’s goal of declaring its jets operational this year, according to the program chief.

The problem lies with the next increment of software, Block 3i, which the Air Force requires to declare initial operational capability. For F-35s using the original 3i software, the jets’ systems would shut down about once every three or four hours and have to be rebooted. This “choking” effect is caused in essence by a timing misalignment of the software of the plane’s sensors and the software of its main computers.

(...SNIPPED)