Thread: Report: F-35 Cracks in Tests, Isn’t Reliable

Report: F-35 Cracks in Tests, Isn’t Reliable

by BRENDAN MCGARRY on JANUARY 29, 2014


The U.S. Defense Department’s newest and most advanced fighter jet has cracked during testing and isn’t yet reliable for combat operations, the Pentagon’s top weapons tester said in new report.
The entire F-35 fleet was grounded last February after a crack was discovered in a turbine blade of an F-35A. While the order was subsequently lifted, more cracks have been discovered in other areas and variants of the Lockheed Martin Corp.-made plane, according to the latest annual report by J. Michael Gilmore, director of Operational Test and Evaluation.
Durability testing of the F-35A, the Air Force’s version of the plane designed to take off and land on conventional runways, and the F-35B, the Marine Corps’ model that can take off like a plane and land like a helicopter, revealed “significant findings” of cracking in engine mounts, fuselage stiffeners, and bulkhead and wing flanges, according to the document. A bulkhead actually severed at one point, it states.
“All of these discoveries will require mitigation plans and may include redesigning parts and additional weight,” Gilmore wrote in the report.
The F-35C, the Navy’s version of the plane designed to take off and land on aircraft carriers, has also had cracks in the floor of the avionics bay and power distribution center and, like the F-35B, in the so-called jack point stiffener, according to the document.
The hardware problems, along with ongoing delays in software development, among other issues, led Gilmore to conclude that the fifth-generation fighter jet’s “overall suitability performance continues to be immature, and relies heavily on contractor support and workarounds unacceptable for combat operations.”
He added, “Aircraft availability and measures of reliability and maintainability are all below program target values for the current stage of development.”
The Joint Strike Fighter program is the Pentagon’s most expensive acquisition effort, estimated last year to cost $391 billion to develop and build 2,457 F-35 Lightning IIs. The single-engine jet is designed to replace such aircraft as the F-16, A-10, F/A-18 and AV-8B.
The Pentagon this year plans to spend $8.4 billion to buy 29 F-35s, including 19 for the Air Force, six for the Marine Corps, and four for the Navy. The funding includes $6.4 billion in procurement, $1.9 billion in research and development, and $187 million in spare parts. The department in fiscal 2015 wants to purchase 42 of the planes.
The Marine Corps had expected to begin operational flights of the aircraft in 2015, followed by the Air Force in 2016 and the Navy in 2019.
The Corps’ schedule depends on using a more limited version of the software, known as Block 2B, designed for use with such precision-guided weapons as the AIM-120C Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, GBU-32/31 Joint Direct Attack Munition and GBU-12 Paveway II bomb.
The first operational flights, however, will probably be delayed because the aircraft’s software won’t be ready in time due to ongoing glitches, according to the report.
“Initial results with the new increment of Block 2B software indicate deficiencies still exist in fusion, radar, electronic warfare, navigation, EOTS [Electro-Optical Targeting System], Distributed Aperture System (DAS), Helmet-Mounted Display System (HMDS), and datalink,” it states. “These deficiencies block the ability of the test team to complete baseline Block 2B test points, including weapons integration.”
Lockheed has reassigned more engineers to improve the software, and the Pentagon has assembled an outside team of experts to study the issue.
Even so, the report touches on other problem areas.
The aircraft remains vulnerable to “ballistically-induced propellant fire from all combat threats,” such as missile strikes, according to the document; its computer-based logistics system, the Autonomic Logistics Information System, or ALIS, was fielded with “significant deficiencies;” and the program has a “significant risk” of failing to mature modeling and simulation technology, known as the Verification System, or VSim, according to the document.

January 29th, 2014 | F-35 Watch, The Defense Biz | Comments (17)
Tagged as: F-35, J. Michael Gilmore, Joint Strike Fighter, Lockheed Martin
Defense.org

http://defensetech.org/2014/01/29/re...isnt-reliable/

Why The Pentagon Is Spending So Unbelievably Much On The F-35

Jeremy Bender
Apr. 30, 2014, 4:30 PM


Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the most expensive acquisition in military history and one of the most controversial. Currently seven years behind schedule and $167 billion over budget, the F-35program could cost over $1 trillion over its lifetime. There are also concerns that the F-35 is vulnerable to being hacked, that its hull could crack, and that its design specifications have been stolen.
Despite that, the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy are sticking by the F-35 program, partially because the Air Force and Marine Corps have no alternatives, but also because of the great promise that the F-35 shows.
The F-35 evolved out of the Joint Strike Fighter competition, which was aimed at building a next-generation aircraft that could replace a range of fighter, strike, and ground-attack aircraft, in 1996.
The Pentagon has bought 29 F-35s this year. It has requested funding to buy an additional 34 aircraft for the 2015 fiscal year.
At the same time, Boeing has been loudly criticizing the F-35's stealth vulnerabilities in an attempt to get the Navy to buy more of its radar jamming champion EA-18G Growlers to support the Joint Strike Fighter.

Check out all the features of the F-35 »

http://www.businessinsider.com/lockh...5-guide-2014-4

The F-35 Fighter Plane Is Even More of a Mess Than You Thought


The US military's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft is proving to be a pain in the neck in more ways than one.
Not only did the Pentagon spend almost $400 billion to buy 2,400 aircraft—about twice as much as it cost to put a man on the moon—the F-35 program is 7 years behind schedule and $163 billion over budget. This at a time when cuts in the defense budget are forcing the Pentagon to shrink the size of the military.
CBS 60 Minutes took a closer look at the troubled fighter plane a few months back, but their rebroadcast tonight seems like as good a reason as any to revisit one of the biggest ongoing budget debacles in U.S. military memory. [CBS]

60 Minutes Video at the Page Link:

http://gizmodo.com/the-f-35-fighter-...ium=socialflow

1/6 F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS A LEMON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQB4W8C0rZI

Uploaded on Sep 11, 2010

Military expert Pierre Sprey, the founder and designer of the F-16 & A-10 Warthog airplanes, Explains why the f-35 will not cut it on the modern battlefield.

(WATCH ALL MY VIDEO'S ON THE F-35)

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2/6 F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS A LEMON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kssZua8MVc

Uploaded on Sep 11, 2010

Military expert WINSLOW T. WHEELER Explains why the f-35 will not cut it on the modern battlefield. (WATCH ALL MY VIDEO'S ON THE F-35)

Read more here about escalating costs to......

http://cdi.org/program/document.cfm?d...

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3/6 F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS A LEMON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh2Gnxa_fTw

Uploaded on Jan 25, 2011

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4/6 F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS A LEMON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojPnp2hwqaE

Published on Feb 27, 2013

F-35 THE GRAND DADDY DEBACLE OF ALL TIME (LEMON)

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5/6 F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS A LEMON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhGIglwmFB8

Uploaded on Sep 11, 2010

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6/6 F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS A LEMON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS7O14nzrzE

Uploaded on Sep 11, 2010

Military experts including WINSLOW T. WHEELER & PIERRE SPREY Explains why the f-35 will not cut it on the modern battlefield.

(WATCH ALL MY VIDEO'S ON THE F-35)

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Defence analyst Pierre Sprey on the F-35 (2012) - the fifth estate (youtube.com)

F-35 is a Turkey