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

now noticed
Crashed F-35A fighter jet located, US says
Wreckage risked exposing military secrets if retrieved by China or Russia

April 30, 2019 08:17 JST
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the text is behind paywall though
 
Today at 6:37 AM
now noticed
Crashed F-35A fighter jet located, US says
Wreckage risked exposing military secrets if retrieved by China or Russia

April 30, 2019 08:17 JST
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the text is behind paywall though
and later Brumby pointed out in Japan Thread it might not be true;

The U.S. Military Now Denies That Japan's Missing F-35A Has Been Found
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follow the link if interested
 
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Polish defense minister: F-35 acquisition ‘not far away’

already heard at defence24.pl (
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)

OK the text:
Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said April 29 that the Polish government aimed to sign a deal to station U.S. troops in Poland this year, and a contract to purchase F-35 fighter jets was “not far away” from being signed.

Blaszczak’s announcement in an interview with local broadcaster TVP indicates that Warsaw could aim to negotiate on the potential troop deployment in parallel with the aircraft acquisition. Poland has pitched for the United States to build a permanent military base in the country, offering to pay at least $2 billion toward the project, dubbed “Fort Trump.”

On April 25, during her visit to Warsaw, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said that a U.S. Air Force team was to be sent to Poland in May to demonstrate the capabilities of the F-35 to Polish defence ministry officials, as reported by local news agency PAP.

Last February, Blaszczak said the planned acquisition of 32 fifth-generation aircraft would be carried out as part of the country’s military modernization program. Under the initiative, Warsaw aims to spend 185 billion zloty ($48.5 billion) on new weapons and equipment by 2026.

The envisioned procurement is part of Poland’s efforts to to replace its outdated Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-22 and Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets.
 
Folks et al,

This whole debacle about spare parts and its impact on readiness especially at sea needs to be put in perspective.

...
...:
"In the Marine Corps, investigators found 382 out of 886 parts on the USS Wasp and 339 out of 768 parts on the USS Essex -- or roughly 45 percent of the 1,654 parts -- were incompatible with the fighters they had onboard. Those parts included pilot harnesses, masks, breathing hoses, fire extinguishers, sensor elements for the jet, batteries, electrical equipment, antennae, multiple types of valves and panel assemblies, the report states."
F-35s Deployed with Wrong Spare Parts Amid Supply Chain Failures, GAO Finds
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now the AirForceMag story
GAO Pushes Pentagon on F-35 Reliability and Maintainability, Block 4 Business Case
4/29/2019
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The Pentagon should reconsider its operational requirements for the F-35 in light of the program’s struggle with reliability and maintainability, and expedite creating a business case for the Block 4 update of the jet before pursuing any more development contracts, the Government Accountability Office said in its annual review of the Joint Strike Fighter.

In the fourth of its congressionally mandated annual F-35 reports, the GAO said the program has made “slow, sustained progress” in improving reliability and maintainability, but is still only meeting half of its required metrics in this area. The watchdog agency said the Pentagon has not created specific improvement plans with “measurable objectives” and timelines, nor has it explained how it will make correcting these deficiencies a priority.

“If the R&M requirements are not met,” the GAO asserted, “the warfighter may have to settle for a less-reliable and more costly aircraft than originally planned.”

The GAO also reiterated its argument, which it has made several times before, that going ahead with Block 4 upgrade development contracts really ought to wait until the Pentagon has created a business case for the upgrade and conducted an “independent technology assessment” for it. The GAO noted that the first modernization development contracts are coming any moment, but the technology readiness assessment, independent cost estimate, and test and evaluation master plan for Block 4 aren’t expected to be done until October-December of this year. Consequently, the program won’t have a “high level of confidence” that risk has been appropriately reduced before committing to contracts. This in turn could lead to “cost and schedule overruns similar to those experienced by the original F-35 program during its development.”

Of the five recommendations in GAO’s report, four had to do with R&M. It suggested the Defense Secretary:
  • Take another look at the operational requirements document for the F-35 to see if the R&M targets in it are “still feasible,” and if not, revise the ORD accordingly.
  • Makes sure the F-35 program sets specific goals and timetables for the R&M improvement plan.
  • Ensure the F-35 Joint Program Office identify and document which actions are expected to actually achieve the objectives set for them in the improvement plan.
  • Ensure the JPO “prioritizes funding” for the R&M improvement plan.
  • Hold off awarding any more development contracts, “at least for the initial Block 4 capabilities” until the independent cost and technology readiness estimates are done, and until there’s an approved test and evaluation master plan, “which addresses resources, aircraft shortfalls, and funding.”
The F-35 Joint Program Office concurred with four of the recommendations GAO made with respect to the program, disputing, however, that it’s too early to begin work on developing the Block 4 upgrade.

In a statement, the JPO said it’s already in the process of updating the reliability and improvement plans, and that these will spell out the details GAO was looking for; however, it disagreed with the fifth recommendation, saying the business case for Block 4 has been made.

“The program has adequate cost, schedule, and technical maturity knowledge to begin development,” the JPO said. The program baseline “contains Block 4 cost estimates and schedule milestones,” and the JPO expects the new program director will sign off on a Block 4 test and evaluation master plan in June, in anticipation of SecDef approval in the fall.

“Test sites have worked closely with the JPO and have the information and resources needed for near-term Block 4 test planning and execution,” the JPO said. It also said the technological maturity of Block 4 has been “assessed for system functionality and the JPO is currently establishing a process to continuously evaluate risk and technical maturity.”

Top Pentagon officials directing and overseeing the F-35 are expected to appear before the House Armed Services tactical aviation subcommittee on Thursday.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
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Polish defense minister: F-35 acquisition ‘not far away’

already heard at defence24.pl (
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)

OK the text:

So here you go my friend, echoing Tom Cruise,,,, "if the Polish Govt trusts us?? shouldn't you trust us too??" LMAO, really bro, everybody and his dog loves this airplane, and you're still not sure about the "Sopwith Camel"????
 
noted
Contracts for April 29, 2019
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NAVY

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $1,148,847,334 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, cost share contract for sustainment services in support of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, non-U. S. Department of Defense (non-U.S. DoD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Services to be provided include ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities, Automatic Logistics Information System operation and maintenance; reliability, maintainability and health management implementation and support; supply chain management; and activities to provide and support pilot and maintainer initial training. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (60 percent); Orlando, Florida (24 percent); Greenville, South Carolina (7 percent); Samlesbury, Preston, United Kingdom (5 percent); and El Segundo, California (4 percent). Work is expected to be completed in December 2022. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Air Force, Navy/Marine Corps); non-U.S. DoD participant; and FMS funds in the amount of $1,135,420,262 will be obligated at time of award, $811,246,309 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($477,920,120; 41.60 percent); Navy ($346,753,261; 30.18 percent); non-U.S. DoD participants ($231,207,693; 20.13 percent); and FMS customers ($92,966,260; 8.09 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-19-C-1022).
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
LOL did you bring it because of its low RCS?

No Bub, I mentioned it because its from WW1, and I know you like 98 Mauser's as well,,,, I LOVE 98 Mauser sporting rifles, but I'll stick with my AR platform for "social work", LOL

Really the Moisan NaGant?? what is you favorite rifle, LOL..

I'm afraid you're living in the past my friend, only that poor old former soviet heart still has a distrust of LockMart!
LOL did you bring it because of its low RCS?

Yes, its mostly composite structure, wood and fabric my friend! well except for the rotary engine and steel tubing,,, kinda like PAK-FA....
 

Brumby

Major
...:
"In the Marine Corps, investigators found 382 out of 886 parts on the USS Wasp and 339 out of 768 parts on the USS Essex -- or roughly 45 percent of the 1,654 parts -- were incompatible with the fighters they had onboard. Those parts included pilot harnesses, masks, breathing hoses, fire extinguishers, sensor elements for the jet, batteries, electrical equipment, antennae, multiple types of valves and panel assemblies, the report states."
F-35s Deployed with Wrong Spare Parts Amid Supply Chain Failures, GAO Finds
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I have read the report. They are typical start up issues that will improve over time. Do you seriously think the USN is the only service in the world that has operational issues? The only reason why this conversation is even happening is because it is the only service in the world that has this degree of transparency.
 
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