F-35 oppdatering - Har passert 10 000 flytimer

JSF Clocks 10,000 Hours as LRIP Contracts Are Signed

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE » OCTOBER 11, 2013

by  DAVID DONALD

Newest JSF operator is the U.S. Navy’s F-35C training squadron, VFA-101. The unit was established at Eglin AFB, Florida, on October 1. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)

October 11, 2013, 12:45 PM

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II notched its 10,000th flight hour in September, and by the end of the month the combined Joint Strike Fighter fleet had flown 6,492 times for 10,077 hours. Illustrating the momentum that the program has built since operational production aircraft began training operations, more than half the total was amassed in the past 11 months. It had previously taken the program six years to reach the 5,000-hour milestone.

While system development and demonstration and operational test work continue at Edwards AFB, California, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, and Nellis AFB, Nevada, training is in full swing with VMFA-121 at MCAS Yuma in Arizona and the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida. On October 1 the latest squadron began operating the JSFin the form of the U.S. Navy’s VFA-101 “Grim Reapers.” The squadron stood up at Eglin as the training unit for the F-35C carrier version of the JSF, which is scheduled to attain initial operating capability in 2019.

Another facility to have recently received its first JSF is the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB, Utah. The ALC is the principal depot for support of the F-35A conventional takeoff variant, and the first aircraft to arrive for work is to be modified for the Block 2B OT&E program that begins in 2015. The Marine Corps opened its Cherry Point maintenance depot in July.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin and the Department of Defense have signed the contracts for the sixth and seventh low-rate initial production batches. LRIP 6 is valued at $4.4 billion and covers 23 F-35As, six F-35Bs and seven F-35Cs. The batch will include the first aircraft for Italy and Australia. LRIP 7, which includes Norway’s first aircraft, is valued at $3.4 billion, and covers 24 F-35As, seven F-35Bs and four F-35Cs. LRIP 7 represents the first time that a quoted unit cost for a JSF airframe has fallen below the $100 million mark, with an F-35A priced at $98 million. However, this price does not include the F135 engine, which is procured under a separate contract with Pratt& Whitney.

Most of these aircraft are already in the build process. This week Lockheed Martin and the Royal Australian Air Force celebrated the first aircraft for the service, AU-1, entering the mate process, the fuselage having been delivered from Northrop Grumman on September 23. Delivery is scheduled for next summer.

Friday, October 11, 2013

F-35 Program Scraps Alternate Helmet

Woodrow Bellamy

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program has scrapped an alternate helmet testing program in favor of "exclusively" focusing on developing the Rockwell Collins Elbit Systems of America Vision Systems Generation 2 (Gen 2) helmet in an effort to save $45 million on the program. 

 

The program's decision to go with the Rockwell Collins-Elbit helmet erases doubts that were raised by "program and industry officials"in 2011. At the time, BAE Systems began developing an alternate helmet, as part of a dual-path development plan. 

 

"To date, more than 100 F-35 pilots have flown more than 6,000 flights and 10,000 hours with the helmet, and their feedback has been very positive. Lockheed Martin and its suppliers will continue to focus on developing and delivering the helmet's unprecedented capabilities to the warfighter in support of the services’ declaration of Initial Operating Capability,” said Lorraine Martin, general manager of the F-35 program at Lockheed Martin.

 

Rockwell Collins' helmet streams real-time imagery from six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft and also gives pilots weather and otehr situational awareness information. The F-35's Digital Aperture System provides the helmet stream from the cameras. 

 

An upgraded Generation 3 helmet is planned for the Low Rate Initial Production lot 7, which Lockheed is currently in negotiations with the Pentagon over. The third installment will feature an improved night vision camer and upgraded liquid crystal displays.