Top Pentagon civilian and military officials continue to express
optimism over reaching the in-service deadlines of mid-2015
for the U.S. Marine Corps’ F-35B and mid-2016 for the U.S. Air
Force’s F-35A.
Concern, however, still looms over a plan to reach initial
operational capability (IOC) for the F-35C, designed for aircraft
carrier suitability, in 2018.
Meanwhile, the U.K. plans for initial service for its F-35Bs in
2018. At issue for that goal are projected challenges with
"data fusion," or the aircraft’s ability to digitally connect to its
wingmen and create integrated sight pictures for pilots that
include comprehensive threat data and coherent targeting.
"The software is not the driving factor in achieving IOC in
2015," says Frank Kendall, Pentagon procurement chief. "The
story is different for [F-35 software version] 3F … We are
about six months behind software development there if we
don’t do anything different or anything better."
Early testing revealed "ghost tracks" and duplicate tracks
of targets on cockpit screens, says Orlando Charvalho,
executive vice president for F-35 prime Lockheed Martin.
These have since been removed, he says, through software
improvements.
The biggest challenge for achieving the Marines’ IOC by
July 1, 2015, is ensuring that 10 F-35s are outfitted with the
2B software — which offers limited weapon and sensor
capability — to the same variant standard in time, says
Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive
officer. At issue is that these aircraft rolled off Lockheed
Martin’s production line at different times and some
have modifications installed based on flight-test lessons,
while others don’t. But for ease of operation they must be the
same configuration.
This work is on the "critical path" to the Marines’ IOC, and
Bogdan says he is "fairly confident" it is achievable. The
Air Force is planning to declare IOC as early as Aug. 1,
2016, with the 3i software configuration, which includes
the 2B functionality hosted on updated computer software;
the software is suitable for release to international partners.
Flight testing of the 2B software is slated to wrap up by
year’s end, says Lorraine Martin, F-35 executive vice
president.
She is confident that the company also will deliver 3F
software as planned in 2018. "We have planned 3F with
the actual productivity out of 2B," she says, noting the
actual data on 2B progress underscores her conviction.
"We hit 2B essentially on the nose" once the program was
rebaselined in 2010 with more realistic targets, she says.
Lockheed Martin is about 53% through the flight-test
program.
The F-35 is slated to cost $398 billion to develop and
field for the U.S.; also participating in the program are
the U.K., Italy, The Netherlands, Canada, Denmark,
Turkey, Australia and Norway. Singapore, Japan and
Israel also have plans to buy the single-engine, stealthy
jet, as well.