F-35 Joint Strike Fighter News, Videos and pics Thread

F-35 upgrade plan awaiting approval from top Pentagon acquisition exec
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it's kinda summary
The Pentagon’s acquisition executive is set to weigh in on the F-35’s modernization plan in the coming weeks, the F-35 program executive officer said Oct 1.

An update of the F-35’s acquisition strategy, which spells out the F-35’s Block 4 modernization plan and describes the
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that the department intends to use to incrementally upgrade the jet, is sitting on the desk of Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord, Vice Adm. Mat Winter told reporters during a roundtable.

Winter characterized the document as going through the “final administrative engagements with her staff and the [Office of the Secretary of Defense] staff,” with Lord’s approval expected “within the next couple weeks,” he said.

The Navy and Air Force acquisition executives — James Geurts and Will Roper, respectively — have already approved the plan.

Although Winter did not provide details on the revised strategy, it is anticipated to
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driven by the new agile software approach, which the F-35 joint program office terms Continuous Capability Development and Delivery or C2D2.

The JPO has argued that, in order to keep the F-35 relevant against emerging, dynamic threats, it needs to be able to quickly field incremental updates to the joint strike fighter’s software.

“The challenge we have is to ensure that we can continue to deliver capability to our warfighter on an operationally relevant, technically feasible pace, and that pace needs to outpace our adversaries and potential threats on the battlefield,” Winter said Monday.

This more intensive software development effort may also boost the cost of follow-on modernization. During a March hearing, Winter acknowledged that U.S. and international customers could pay up to $16 billion for Block 4 modernization — a figure that includes $10.8 billion for development and $5.4 billion for procurement of upgrades to the F-35 between fiscal years 2018 through 2024.

However, he also stressed that this was an initial estimate, and that a more solid assessment would be provided to Lord with the revised acquisition strategy.

By contrast, the Government Accountability Office in 2017 predicted that the development phase of the Block 4 modernization effort would cost upwards of $3.9 billion, but that figure only included up to FY22 and did not include procurement costs.

The program office has laid out a total of 53 capabilities to be included in Block 4, which range from updated software to a suite of new weapons like the Small Diameter Bomb II.

The first Block 4 capabilities are set to be delivered in April, Winter said, but about 22 modifications will require the F-35 to undergo a set of computing system upgrades called Tech Refresh 3. Those “TR 3” modifications include a new integrated core processor, memory system and panoramic cockpit display.

The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps currently plan to upgrade all of their F-35s to TR3 in the 2020s, although that could change due to operational or fiscal constraints, Winter noted.

It is still unknown whether all operational F-35s will be converted to the Block 4 version, but that decision could also affect the cost of the follow-on modernization program.

The program office is also
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, now slated for mid-November, Winter said. JPO officials are set to meet with Lord’s office on Oct. 2 for the operational test readiness review, which will assess the F-35 system, the resources needed to execute IOT&E and the requirements to start testing.

Once operational test has been completed, Lord will be able to make a full rate production decision, which is projected for end of 2019, he said.
 
Yesterday at 6:59 AM
inside
Winter: New Contract Incentives Encourage Efficient F-35 Production
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:


“I’m not incentivizing them to make fee. I’m incentivizing them to change their performance, and that’s a big key. That’s a dialogue we have not done on previous contracts,” Winter said. “We have taken a portion of that same fee amount, a portion of it – not an increase, same portion – chiseled it out and said, if you don’t increase your performance you won’t get this fee. If you increase your performance, then you get the same fee you have in the past.”
related is the AirForceMag story F-35s Behind, Line Needs More Automation; Services Plan to Mod Early Jets
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The F-35 production line, although meeting annual targets, is late on monthly deliveries, and the Joint Program Office has put Lockheed Martin on notice that it must step up quality or lose some incentive fees. Program Executive Officer Vice Adm. Mat Winter also said the military services have decided to upgrade all their existing jets to the Block 3 standard, but have not yet decided if they will eventually mod all their jets to a Block 4 configuration.

“We are seeing increased touch labor and rework,” Winter told reporters at a twice-annual F-35 status report briefing in Arlington, Va. The line is “not hitting ... monthly deliverables,” he said. The problem stems from “repair, rework, and scrap” of parts on the assembly line that are, for various reasons, not right. Although individually these quality escapes are not adding huge costs, Winter said, each one slows the production line; something he said can’t be tolerated as production is rapidly edging up to the full planned rate of 168 airplanes per year.

“They need more automation,” Winter told Air Force Magazine after the event, adding there’s still “too much touch labor.” He’s breaking out some of Lockheed’s award fees and holding them in reserve to provide an incentive for the company to get its processes humming along more efficiently, and with less lost time and material.

“This is not new money,” he noted, saying the incentives are already part of the contract, but Lockheed could lose some incentive fee if it doesn’t deliver aircraft more reliably.

Winter also said the services have “fully funded” modifying all their early-production F-35s to the Block 3 standard, but Winter said some may be upgraded to the Tech Refresh-2 and some to the Tech Refresh-3 configuration. The TR-2 includes the Integrated Core Processor, a “panoramic cockpit” display and memory system, and the -3 includes additional improvements. This will make a “considerable difference in reliability and availability” of the aircraft, Winter said.

Newer-production F-35s are largely achieving the desired 75 percent mission capability rates, but the earlier airplanes are the typical problem jets, he noted. The refresh will put most F-35s at an even technology level, making parts production and modification smoother and performance more predictable, he said.

“It’s an affordability issue” whether the services will boost all their airplanes to the TR-3 configuration, he said, and that has not yet been decided.
 
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found in the discussion below
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gelgoog

Brigadier
Registered Member
Hopefully those "agile" Block 4 software upgrades won't brick the fighters like some Windows updates manage to do every now and then.
 
DOD To Finalize F-35 Acquisition Strategy Within Weeks

Oct 1, 2018
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The Pentagon will finalize the Joint Strike Fighter acquisition strategy in a few weeks, and the service acquisition executives have signed the document, the program executive officer (PEO) says.

Vice Adm. Mat Winter,
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PEO, told reporters Oct. 1 that the strategy document is with the staff of Ellen Lord, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, and is under “final administrative engagements.”

The strategy document will describe the program’s continuous capability development and delivery (C2D2) methodology “appropriately,” Winter says. But he declined to divulge additional details. Winter first described the C2D2 proposal in September 2017 when he compared it to running app updates on a mobile phone.

Skeptics have criticized the concept. They see the methodology as a way for the program to defer planned Block 3F capability. The Pentagon operational test and evaluation director’s (DOT&E) office called the C2D2 plan “not executable” because of limited test aircraft. The independent office also criticized the six-month software production cycle because it does not update the logistics system or mission data files.

Winter says his team will meet with Lord Oct. 2 for an operational test readiness review to see if the program is ready for initial operational test and evaluation. The review includes if the jet is ready for test, the resources required to execute the formal test period, and to ensure the appropriate certifications and qualifications are met. The program anticipates formal IOT&E will begin in mid-November and conclude in summer 2019 before a full-rate production decision in late 2019.

Separately, the 2019 Defense Appropriations Act was signed into law before the new start of the fiscal year. This is the first time in more than a decade the Pentagon has funding approved at the beginning of the new year. The bill includes an additional 16 F-35s compared to the initial budget request.

The influx of F-35s will require additional tooling for the manufacturer to build the jets.

“Our business model is to have the tooling that’s meeting the ramp. We have tooling coming on that is invested that can absorb these 16 aircraft as we then bring on new tooling to absorb the increase to when we get to 170,” Winter says.

The program received a technical proposal from
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on low-rate initial production Lots 12, 13 and 14 and anticipates contract negotiations will begin in the next month or two for the first block buy, Winter says.

“The idea here is to get back in phase with the procurement of the U.S. Congress and departments with the actual procurement years of the lot assigned,” Winter says.
so let's wait and see
 
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oh really
It’s official — the
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will begin operational test and evaluation next month, marking one of the most significant transitions for the closely watched program. Next summer, presuming no show stoppers appear during OTE, the program will move to full production.

“On October 2, 2018,
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convened an operational test readiness review, which assessed the readiness of the F-35 system and supporting resources required to execute the operational test plan,” her spokesman, Lt. Col. Mike Andrews, says in an email. “Ms. Lord certified readiness to enter operational testing after concurring with the F-35 Program Executive Officer’s recommendation on his plan to start mid-November.”

I knew the Joint Strike Fighter Operational Test Team (JOTT) had approved the move to OTE on Sept. 23, clearing the path for likely approval by Lord. But her decision also depended on any last-minute objections from Robert Behler, the congressionally-mandated Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. Behler has been much less oppositional in his language about the F-35 than his predecessor, but has continued the careful work of preparing what some call the largest, most expensive and most complex operational test in modern military history.

What does this mean for the program? “Along with its first combat sortie last week, this demonstrates the maturation of the F-35 as the centerpiece of modern US aerospace power,” Dave Deptula, a member of the Breaking D Board of Contributors and head of the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute, says in an email.

This has been a huge two weeks for the world’s single biggest military program, as Breaking D readers know:

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    of a US F-35, a strike in Afghanistan by a Marine F-35B. (
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    have already struck targets in Syria).
  • The
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    of an F-35, another Marine F-35B, near Beaufort, S.C..
  • First
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    on Britain’s HMS Queen Elizabeth.
  • Flight costs per hour
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    , a critical step towards reducing what the GAO once estimated would be a trillion-dollar cost to buy and operate the F-35 fleet over the decades.
  • Lot 11
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    , with the cost of an F-35A, complete with engine, falling below $90 million for the first time.
Now the entire program takes on the unique operational testing to which America submits its major weapons. One of the things to bear in mind about this is
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with key international partners, continuing the unique transnational program management that has really distinguished this program from all its predecessors.
it's
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anzha

Senior Member
Registered Member
The Corps has been experimenting with an innovative slew of ways to use its
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known as HIMARS.

And just recently, the Corps set another
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: destroying a target by connecting an F-35B with a HIMARS rocket shot for the first time, according to Lt,. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, deputy commandant for aviation.

“We were able to connect the F-35 to a HIMARS, to a rocket shot … and we were able to target a particular conex box,” Rudder told audience members Friday at an aviation readiness discussion at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, or CSIS.

The shot was all done through data link, according to Rudder. The F-35 used sensors and pushed data about the location of the target that was then fed to a HIMARS system.

The HIMARS unit then destroyed the target.


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"Max Moga" ...
... quoted inside
More F-35 Joint Strike Fighters May Soon Be Headed to Eglin Air Force Base
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The U.S.
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is weighing the addition of another
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squadron at
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, Florida, possibly as soon as 2020, Military.com has learned.

The plus-up would give additional resources to the busiest Air Force F-35 training wing, providing pilots necessary, enhanced equipment currently lacking in the pipeline, according to the head of the training wing.

"There are ongoing discussions to increase the aircraft at the 33rd Fighter Wing, to put additional aircraft and missions [here]," said Col. Paul Moga, commander of the fighter wing, which is part of Air Education and Training Command.

The hope is the wing will receive 24 jets with the latest software, Block 3F, in addition to upgrading the current fleet of fighters at the base, he said.

The boost would not only give incoming pilots much newer stealth aircraft to train with, but also offer other improvements, due to the more advanced software and newer planes.

"The reliability, the sustainability, the maintainability, and a lot of the maintenance practices for troubleshooting [all of that] gets significantly better ...and we'll see a clear and quantifiable increase in all of our performance and maintenance metrics," Moga said in an interview Friday.

He first spoke with Military.com in May when Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson visited the base. At that time, he was concerned the wing needed help to relieve the pressures of training student pilots with insufficient resources.

As a result of "blunt" conversation, officials at the wing have worked with top Air Force leaders, the F-35 Joint Program Office and F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin to get supplies needed keep up with training demands.

Since May, "We did see some additional parts and support flow our way," Moga said, adding that it has since slowed because spare parts for the oldest F-35s simply don't exist anymore.

Although the F-35 is the Pentagon's newest and most advanced aircraft, the oldest Joint Strike Fighters in the fleet reside at Eglin. The planes are part of Lockheed's
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.

"We can show up with a suitcase full of money and order the parts, but a lot of them have long lead times -- 12 to 24 months -- to go to the subcontractor, pay them, get them to machine it and then get them to deliver the parts," Moga said. He did not specify which parts are needed.

It puts the 33rd Fighter Wing at a crossroads, he said. The service can put in the request to have the parts manufactured, or it can wait for the current fleet to be upgraded.

"A lot of the parts we need now, we might not need in two years when our aircraft are upgraded," Moga said. "I think we're going to continue with some brute force maintenance to get the most out of the jets in the configuration that they're in now. And then over time, the Air Force has committed to upgrading our fleet."

Upgrades Ahead
The wing's current aircraft have some of the oldest Block 2B software. But the more advanced Block 3F is on the way, Moga said.

"We'll start [the process] early next year, and it's going to take a couple of years," he said, adding that there is also discussion about upgrading the fleet
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-- the latest software upgrade for the F-35's avionics and weapons delivery. No changes are imminent, however.

The first F-35s from Eglin will enter depot maintenance for the software and mission systems upgrades in a phased approach. It could take weeks or months to configure each jet, so the 33rd has synced any other maintenance work already on the schedule to coincide with the software upgrades. Moga said this will limit how long aircraft are at
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, Utah, which houses the Ogden Air Logistics Complex.

"We have to be very smart and deliberate about how we schedule these upgrades … I can't afford to take six aircraft off the line at the same time, because I won't be able to fill my training requirements," he said.

Reiterating previous comments, Moga said he has not seen a dramatic shift in training for student pilots with older aircraft, because training for the "near-peer" threat has always been a part of the curriculum.

"We have been focused on a near-peer adversary training with these airframes, whether it be the
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[Raptor] or the F-35," he said. "If we trained to a lower level with these highly capable aircraft, we're underutilizing them and it's not challenging for [the students]."

Training to Date
The Air Force's original vision for the 33rd Fighter Wing was different, with a planned five squadrons, including three Air Force, one
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and one
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.

Today, the fighter wing maintains 25
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. The Navy, which sends pilots through its own training pipeline at the base, keeps eight
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on station.

The fifth-generation stealth plane arrived at Eglin in 2011 and made the 33rd Fighter Wing the first U.S. F-35 training unit under Air Education and Training Command. The first class of student pilots started training in 2013.

Three years into the flight and development courses, 80 percent of flights were focused on pilot development and instructor pilot development, while 20 percent focused on producing students.

Now, "85 to 90 percent of all the flights that we fly are solely dedicated to producing new F-35 pilots, and 15 to 10 percent we allocate to instructor pilot development," Moga said.

He said the courses offered at Eglin have produced roughly 200 Air Force pilots to date, but
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is on track to outpace Eglin's training production.

Luke's curriculum requires students to train for eight months, more than double the time of pilots training at Eglin. But it also has an academic training center, offering courses such as the F-35 pilot "B-course;" training for those transitioning from other fighters; and an instructor pilot upgrade course, 56th Fighter Wing Maj. Rebecca Heyse previously told Military.com. Luke also has a requalification course for F-35 pilots returning to flying after being out of the jet for a while, she added.

This was "fully anticipated, just because they're growing. Logistically and statistically, they'll produce more than us in [fiscal 2019]," Moga said, adding that Luke also provides foreign training programs.

Nevertheless, he believes Eglin is "acing the course, with what we've got, with one squadron of aircraft and one squadron of instructors."

With a potential buildup of fighters at the base, Moga said he doesn't foresee a large pipeline buildup that mirrors Luke's foreign training programs.

"I think Eglin will remain U.S.-only, mainly because of the complexity with our test mission," he said, referring to the base's testing ranges, including bombing ranges and the 123,000-square-mile Gulf Test Range.

The ranges have given the students a taste of what skills they need to improve on to face threats in the real world, Moga said.

"We have some really good emitters on the Eglin test and training range that we use fairly routinely, and there's ongoing discussions down here to plus that up even more," he said.

Those discussions involve
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-- which simulate a surface-air-missile weapon -- along the Gulf coast from Eglin to Tallahassee, around the Big Bend (or Apalachee Bay in the northeastern part of the Gulf) and down to Tampa, Moga explained, roughly encompassing a 400-mile stretch.

"For the moment, we know where our contributions lie, and what we can do to facilitate and further these efforts, and we still have a few challenges to work through," said Moga, a former
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and F-22 pilot. "We've seen some clear improvements … we can't just sit back and be happy with where we are. We've got to keep pushing the system."
 
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