New F-35 news

[GhostZ06]

WASHINGTON — The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will fly until 2070, reflecting a decision by the US armed services to extend the operational life of the fleet by six years.

All three services that operate the F-35 — the US Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps — increased the total flight hours for the fleet by 1.6 million, F-35 Joint Program Office Chief Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan told reporters March 24 at the Pentagon. Of the total, the Air Force added 1.3 million flight hours, while the Navy added 300,000 flight hours, according to the JPO.

The Air Force extended the life of each F-35A jet by two years, adding six years in total to the program, according to the JPO. This effectively means the JSF will fly until 2070, instead of 2064 as planned.

This extension translated into an addition of $45 billion in operating and support (O&S) costs to the 2015 estimate, masking a 2 to 4 percent drop in real O&S costs, Bogdan stressed. Without this extension, F-35 life cycle O&S costs would have decreased by about $22 billion from the 2014 estimate, he said. From 2014 to 2015, O&S costs saw a net increase of $23 billion from $597.8 billion to $620.8 billion.

The Pentagon's latest Selected Acquisition Report shows the estimate for procuring the F-35 over the life of the program decreased from $391 billion in 2014 to $379 billion in then-year dollars, a drop of $12.1 billion, according to a summary of the report sent out by the Pentagon March 24. Not counting inflation, this translates into a $7.5 billion drop in base-year 2012 dollars, Bogdan said.

http://www.defensenews.com/story/de...-2070-six-years-longer-than-planned/82224282/

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s most recent estimate for the F-35 joint strike fighter’s total acquisition cost shows a drop of $12.1 billion since 2014, according to a government watchdog.

As of March 2016, the Pentagon’s estimate for the total acquisition cost of the F-35 program is $379 billion, down from $391 billion projected in 2014, the Government Accountability Office’s Michael Sullivan noted in his March 23 written testimony before the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces. This includes research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E), procurement and military construction funds.

Not including inflation, that translates into an approximately $7 billion drop, according to F-35 Joint Program Office chief Lt. Gen Christopher Bogdan.

“We are coming down the learning curve and the price curve a little steeper,” Bogdan said March 23 after the hearing. “We are coming down the price curve faster than we anticipated years ago.”

The Pentagon will officially announce the new estimate on March 24 as part of the annual release of its Selected Acquisition Report.

The JPO and contractor Lockheed Martin are currently negotiating about $15 billion worth of contracts for the ninth and tenth batches of F-35s. The JPO is “very close” to finalizing an agreement for lot nine, but lot 10 may take longer, Bogdan said.

By law, Bogdan can not sign a contract for the lot ten aircraft until Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James certifies that the Air Force F-35As delivered during fiscal 2018 will have the final Block 3F software, the version needed for full warfighting capability. Before certification, Bogdan wants to fix an issue with the stability of the latest software version and finalize a plan to speed up weapons testing, he said.

http://www.defensenews.com/story/de...5-acquisition-cost-drops-12-billion/82182106/

 

[GhostZ06]

WASHINGTON — The chief of the F-35 joint program office (JPO) is at odds with a prominent government watchdog over how to manage a follow-on modernization effort for the fifth-generation fighter jet.

Michael Sullivan of the Government Accountability Office called on the Pentagon to establish a standalone acquisition program for the Block 4 modernization effort, which is projected to cost $3 billion over the next six years. If the JPO continues to manage Block 4 as part of the existing F-35 program rather than establishing a separate business case and acquisition baseline, it will be more difficult for Congress to keep the program office accountable for achieving cost, schedule and performance requirements, he argued.

“If the Block 4 effort is not established as a separate acquisition program, transparency will be limited,” Sullivan wrote in a March 23 written testimony submitted to the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee. “As a result, Block 4 will not be subject to key statutory and regulatory oversight requirements, such as providing Congress with regular, formal reports on program cost and schedule performance.”

Sullivan pointed to the F-22 Raptor modernization program as an example. Initially the Air Force planned to modernize the F-22 as part of the program’s existing acquisition baseline, much like the current plan for the F-35. But the resulting “comingling” meant that Congress could not distinguish between the costs associated with the new modernization effort and cost growth in the existing baseline, Sullivan wrote. Eventually, the Defense Department separated the F-22 modernization program from the baseline, in line with GAO’s recommendation.

This change “increased transparency and better facilitated oversight,” Sullivan wrote. “The department has the opportunity to apply similar lessons learned to the F-35 Block 4 program.”

However, JPO Chief Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan disagreed, arguing that the program office has a plan in place to ensure adequate oversight and transparency for Block 4 within the existing baseline.

The Pentagon will award a separate contract for follow-on modernization, which will require separate earn value management, cost, schedule and performance reporting from the contractors, Bogdan told reporters after the March 23 hearing. Bogdan has offered to share these reports with the Hill and DoD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, he said.

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/03/24/f35-bogdan-gao-upgrade/82203926/

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Does it work yet?

 

[StannisTheMannis]

F22 kicks its ass in every test.

 

[Abezal]

Wonder how much of this is due to hitting technological bottlenecks we cant overcome.

 

[Kowboy Karl]

F22 goat

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

what about B and C?


Also - a commitment of 50+ years seems huge. Especially as automation increases.

They'll be selling them for 50 years. That i agree with.

 

[GhostZ06]

Does it work yet?

yes...and its sorta combat ready.


Well the B is

 

[ralphc1]

They extended it 6 years because it's going to take 6 more years to get it fully operational.

 

[Boagrius]

'Solid Progress': F-35 Fighter, Pentagon's Biggest Program, Is Moving Forward Fast

Last week senior Pentagon officials and a representative from a congressional watchdog agency testified before Congress about the status of the tri-service F-35 fighter program. F-35 is by far the biggest weapon development program in the world; to quote two of the officials testifying last week, it will provide the “backbone” of U.S. air combat superiority through 2070, and will serve as a “linchpin” for coalition air operations with allies — many of whom are buying it. So I try to check in on the program every quarter.

...When you add up all the requirements, F-35 ranks as the most complicated aircraft development program ever. Getting it right is crucial to America’s future as a global military power, because there is no “Plan B” if the program falters. I have been following the program since its inception in the 1990s, in part because all of the key players on the industrial team including prime contractor Lockheed Martin have contributed to my think tank (some are also consulting clients). What I heard in last week’s testimony is that the program is in better shape today than ever before, and moving forward rapidly.

https://fightersweep.com/4907/f-35-program-making-solid-progress/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenth...-program-is-moving-forward-fast/#28e53caf4595

 

[ralphc1]

'Solid Progress': F-35 Fighter, Pentagon's Biggest Program, Is Moving Forward Fast



https://fightersweep.com/4907/f-35-program-making-solid-progress/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenth...-program-is-moving-forward-fast/#28e53caf4595

Then there's this!

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS25/20160323/104712/HHRG-114-AS25-Wstate-GilmoreM-20160323.pdf

 

[ralphc1]

yes...and its sorta combat ready.


Well the B is

It's about as combat ready as any version of Windows is user ready when it's rolled out.

 

[MicroBrew]

I don't believe the F35 is going to be used in a primary capacity or at all till 2070. Technology would have progressed far too much by then. I know we still use attack aircraft that were brought into service in the 70s (F15, F16, F1-18) and the avionics and some other systems have been upgraded over the years and the same will happen to the F35, but there is only soo much you can do to an exsisting airframe.

My hunch is that the airforce is saying 2070 to lessen criticism of the program , because they and all involved in the F35 program can lower the operational cost of the aircraft per year if they inflate the number of years it will be in service.

We would have gone to unammned fighter aircraft long before then.

 

[GhostZ06]

I don't believe the F35 is going to be used in a primary capacity or at all till 2070. Technology would have progressed far too much by then. I know we still use attack aircraft that were brought into service in the 70s (F15, F16, F1-18) and the avionics and some other systems have been upgraded over the years and the same will happen to the F35, but there is only soo much you can do to an exsisting airframe.

My hunch is that the airforce is saying 2070 to lessen criticism of the program , because they and all involved in the F35 program can lower the operational cost of the aircraft per year if they inflate the number of years it will be in service.

We would have gone to unammned fighter aircraft long before then.

i doubt we will ever go full unmanned, we will find a way to keep a man in the picture

 

[GhostZ06]

It's about as combat ready as any version of Windows is user ready when it's rolled out.

lol fair enough, i mean we still havent gone into mass production

 

[MicroBrew]

i doubt we will ever go full unmanned, we will find a way to keep a man in the picture

I mean unammend as in the aircraft will be controlled by a pilot on the ground either in an allied country or here in the US, not unlike drones.

 

[GhostZ06]

I mean unammend as in the aircraft will be controlled by a pilot on the ground either in an allied country or here in the US, not unlike drones.

they are trying to come up with a system where the F-35 can have unmanned combat drones flying as Drone wing men.

 

[Boagrius]

I don't believe the F35 is going to be used in a primary capacity or at all till 2070. Technology would have progressed far too much by then. I know we still use attack aircraft that were brought into service in the 70s (F15, F16, F1-18) and the avionics and some other systems8 have been upgraded over the years and the same will happen to the F35, but there is only soo much you can do to an exsisting airframe.

My hunch is that the airforce is saying 2070 to lessen criticism of the program , because they and all involved in the F35 program can lower the operational cost of the aircraft per year if they inflate the number of years it will be in service.

We would have gone to unammned fighter aircraft long before then.

My interpretation was that the 2070 number was for the entire program, including foreign operators who may retire the F35 later than the US.

I very much doubt that manned aircraft will be replaced en masse by remotely operated UCAVs for the simple reason that the remote signal to the UCAV in question is susceptible to jamming, while an inboard pilot is not. In short, you can kiss your drone goodbye if the bad guys decide to switch on their Krasukha set.

Instead, if the F35 does soldier on until the 2060-2070 timeframe it would probably be more in the capacity of a node/control hub for autonomous UCAVs ala X45/47 using more directional and jam resistant datalinks.

Most people don't realise the F35 has a significant potential upgrade path ahead of it, with things like Advanced EOTS, new RAM coatings, variable bypass engines, NGJ, SACM/MSDM, T3, sensor and software upgrades, networking with other platforms and DIRCM/DEWs likely to keep it relevant for quite some time to come.

 

[GhostZ06]

however i have no idea why they are changing the UCLASS to the CBARS....


seems like a stupid move to be honest. The navy really needs a UCLASS .

 

[GhostZ06]

My interpretation was that the 2070 number was for the entire program, including foreign operators who may retire the F35 later than the US.

I very much doubt that manned aircraft will be replaced en masse by remotely operated UCAVs for the simple reason that the remote signal to the UCAV in question is susceptible to jamming, while an inboard pilot is not.

Instead, if the F35 does soldier on until the 2060-2070 timeframe it would probably be more in the capacity of a node/control hub for autonomous UCAVs ala X45/47.

Most people don't realise the F35 has a significant potential upgrade path ahead of it, with things like Advanced EOTS, variable bypass engines, NGJ, SACM/MSDM, T3, sensor upgrades and DIRCM/DEWs likely to keep it relevant for some time to come.

i wonder if they will end up buying the X-47 over the other 3 contenders.