Aircraft Carriers III

noted
Lockheed Martin F-35 and F-22 to miss 80% mission capability rate
  • 17 July, 2019
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The US military’s fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters will fail to meet a 80% mission capability rate by September 2019 as directed by US Department of Defense (DoD).

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis ordered the USAF and US Navy (USN) in September 2018 to increase mission capable rates for the F-35, F-22, F-16 and Boeing F/A-18 to more than 80% by the end of September 2019. The mission capability rate is defined as the percentage of a fleet of an aircraft that are able to perform at least one assigned mission over a period of time.

Mark Esper, who is nominated be secretary of defense, wrote in prepared testimony for the US Senate Armed Services Committee’s confirmation hearing that the USAF’s leading combat aircraft are not expected to meet the 80% mission capability rate.

“The F-22 fleet is still challenged by the lack of low-observable maintenance capacity, exacerbated by the extreme damage at Tyndall Air Force Base from the effects of Hurricane Michael,” he says. “Although F-22 mission-capable rates are improving, the fleet is not expected to achieve the 80% goal this year. Improving mission capable rates for both fleets required additional funding investment for this fiscal year.”

The F-35, which has also struggled with operating costs, also will not meet the required mission capability rate, says Esper.

“Transparency (canopy) supply shortages continue to be the main obstacle to achieving this,” he says. “We are seeking additional sources to fix unserviceable canopies.”

Lockheed Martin had previously told FlightGlobal that canopies were one of the stealth aircraft’s trouble areas, resulting in higher operating costs. GKN Aerospace is the manufacturer of the F-35 canopy.

Lockheed Martin’s other combat aircraft, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, is expected to exceed the 80% mission capability rate goal. That is the result of the USAF increasing its parts supply and adding maintenance shifts.

The USN is also on track to meet the 80% mission capability rate goal for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler by September 2019. Esper says to meet the DoD goal the USN reformed its periodic inspection processes, added extra maintenance personnel, improved the process for component production, and bettered supply chain data collection and circulation, among other initiatives.

I searched for "my" (LOL) original announcement now; it's Oct 9, 2018
Sunday at 9:19 AM
while now Mattis orders fighter jet readiness to jump to 80 percent — in one year
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(most of the article talks the USAF, gosh Raptors' readiness below 50%)
oops, didn't know it's in
Aircraft Carriers III
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
noted
Lockheed Martin F-35 and F-22 to miss 80% mission capability rate



    • 17 July, 2019
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I searched for "my" (LOL) original announcement now; it's Oct 9, 2018 oops, didn't know it's in
Aircraft Carriers III

Yes, my friend, and here once again I told you when "Mad Dog" gave the order, "it will NEVER happen", not going to, airplanes break, it takes a "HELL of a LOT of MONEY!" to get a 5 Gen in the air, it takes a "hell of a lot more" to keep it there!

The USAF, USN, and United States MARINES! collectively do NOT have that kind of Jack! but then nobody else does either! anything over 50% and your Gold!
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
Yes, my friend, and here once again I told you when "Mad Dog" gave the order, "it will NEVER happen", not going to, airplanes break, it takes a "HELL of a LOT of MONEY!" to get a 5 Gen in the air, it takes a "hell of a lot more" to keep it there!

The USAF, USN, and United States MARINES! collectively do NOT have that kind of Jack! but then nobody else does either! anything over 50% and your Gold!

but, for what its worth, aircraft carriers do NOT have an 80% rate either!
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
this is an interesting point

anyone has a current statistics?

I do not, but complex, capital military equipment is run hard and put away wet, the more you abuse it, the more you spend to fix it....

There is a residual to years and years of NO money, and few parts and maintainers during the last 3 or 4 Presidential administrations...

This administration is finally putting the money and talent back into the military, it is showing results, but making up for a quarter century or more of abject neglect takes time, and a LOT of money...

No doubt about it though, 5 Gen Fighters are very expensive, absolutely worth it if you value your ability to defend youself, people who are now operating with out a significant 5 Gen Air Force are in a lot of trouble, I'm in particular thinking of Western nations who are just now deciding to get into the 5 Gen game, and making what might be considered a "token" effort....
 
since I've now read it, I post
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If Congress fails to pass the 2020 budget, the Navy will have to delay necessary repairs on two nuclear-powered carriers, further stretching the fleet at a critical time.

The Navy would be forced to delay refueling of at least one aircraft carrier if Congress ends up funding the Defense Department
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on Oct. 1, a move that could crimp the service’s plans for a series of rapid and more unpredictable deployments.

Even a short CR to fund the Pentagon in place of a fully enacted fiscal year 2020 appropriations bill would affect the mid-life refueling of the USS John C. Stennis, and a longer CR is likely to hurt work on the USS Harry S. Truman, a Navy official confirmed.

The stress the carrier fleet is under is evident off the East Coast of the United States, where the Truman is working up for a new deployment just seven months after returning from a complex mission that took it from the Persian Gulf to the Arctic. The ship is filling in for the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which remains in port in Norfolk because
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availability has stretched from six months to 19 months, forcing the Truman to take over the ‘IKE’s’ deployment.

As Congress negotiates with the White House
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on the debt ceiling and avoid a return to federal budget caps, the possibility of a CR at the start of the 2020 budget year is a real possibility — one the Pentagon has started planning for.

Under a CR, the armed services are unable to fund new start programs, a prohibition that directly impacts the midlife refueling of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

The Navy requested $648 million for the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the Stennis in 2020, while another $17 million has been budgeted to begin preparing for the Truman’s RCOH in 2024. The Stennis, which pulled into Newport News in May, is waiting on work to wrap up on the USS George Washington before it can begin its overhaul and refueling in 2021. The Truman, which the Navy unsuccessfully proposed mothballing early by forgoing its RCOH, will follow on the Stennis.

But before either of those efforts can kick off, contracts have to be signed and schedules made over the next several months to line up the parts and materials needed for the work to take place.

Since no contract negotiations between the government and industry can happen until an appropriations bill is signed into law, “even a CR for a few months has a significant effect,” said Thomas Callender, a naval warfare expert at the Heritage Foundation. “Therefore for a three month CR, it could delay the state of maintenance six months or more,” he added.

And if Stennis is delayed, “then Truman will be delayed in starting, since all RCOHs are conducted in the same drydock,” in Norfolk, Va., Callender pointed out.

Even without a full-year budget however, Congress can throw the Navy’s carriers a lifeline. In 2013, the Hill granted the Navy an exception for starting its RCOH on the USS Lincoln while operating under a CR.

Navy spokesman Lt. Benjamin Anderson declined to speculate on what might happen under a CR, saying “it’s Navy policy not to comment on any pre-decisional legislation. We will have those discussions at the appropriate time if and when a budget is passed.”

The pressure to grant an exception for the two carriers “would be significant because of the priority attached to getting the Truman RCOH back in the budget and the need to complete Stennis on time to manage the stress” on the carrier fleet, says Bryan Clark, a naval expert at CSBA. The Navy requested to forgo the Truman’s mid-life overhaul, but both the House and Senate, in their versions of the 2020 defense policy bill, have restored funding for the work.

The USS George Washington, when it leaves its own RCOH in 2021, will essentially replace Truman in the rotation.

Other Navy maintenance issues could be made worse by a CR. Up to 70 percent of the service’s destroyer fleet is
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, and leaders have recently curtailed the flying hours for rotary and fixed wing pilots at some bases on the East Coast due to budget shortfalls.

The mid-life refueling work on carriers lasts longer, and is far more complex than other repair work the Navy undertakes, and the importance of getting carriers into their scheduled maintenance on time is reflected in the delay in getting the Eisenhower out to sea, and forcing the Truman to step in to fill the gap.
it's
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Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
since I've now read it, I post
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it's
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and there you go, the proof is in the Pudding! this particular congress is unlikely to pass a budget bill, that's why there is a lot blow-back already planning on those CR's.... it won't surprise me though if a work around is found to start work on the Stennis...

the Stennis is now an East Coast Chick!
 
and there you go, the proof is in the Pudding! this particular congress is unlikely to pass a budget bill, that's why there is a lot blow-back already planning on those CR's.... it won't surprise me though if a work around is found to start work on the Stennis...

the Stennis is now an East Coast Chick!
at the time I joined the SDF, I didn't know what's "Continuing Resolution"
(neither "sequester" and "omnibus")
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
It will not be long and we shall see this in the WESTPAC.

JMSDF-CSG-2-Carrier-01.jpg

JMDF deploying two carrier strike group...and they will then exercise with a two carrier group from the US, one a nuclear, the other and LHD/LHA loaded (like the Japanese) with F-35Bs)

Here's the Iwo Jima with a Escort Carrier load of F-35s...note, the two V-22s on the end are a SV-22 ASW variant, and a EV-22 AEW variant. Something that all of these VTOL carriers will need and should have:

000-Iwo-Jima.jpg

1/72 scale versions of the two aircraft:

IMG_6590.JPG

See the youtube video of the LHD-7 with the F-35B airwing, I show the small 1/350 scale V-22s in that video built like the larger ones above:

 
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