F-35C out for further sea trials - Video - AIN

More Sea Trials for F-35 Carrier Variant

by Chris Pocock

 - October 13, 2015, 7:25 AM

 

Check video here: http://tinyurl.com/pw98ag5

The U.S. Navy carrier variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has gone to sea again. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force has been describing its path to initial operating capability (IOC) next year, and progress has been reported with aircraft for two of the international F-35 partners. 

The two-week deployment of two F-35Cs from the Integrated Test Force (ITF) at NAS Patuxent River to the USSDwight D. Eisenhower tested the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) and night operations with the Generation 3 Helmet Mounted Display. The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) said that it still expected to achieve IOC of the carrier version by late 2018. “The F-35C is needed to replace legacy F/A-18C/D Hornets that have been in service since the 1980s, the JPO added.

The IOC for the U.S. Air Force F-35A version remains August 1 of next year, according to Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigan, director of the service’s F-35 Integration Office. At the recent AFA conference, he defined IOC as 12 to 24 aircraft in one squadron with 30 pilots and 240 maintainers, using Block 3IR6 software and capable of conducting interdiction, “basic” close-air support and “limited” SEAD and DEAD (suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses) “in a contested environment.” The Air Force has taken delivery of 74 F-35As, including the first two of 72 for the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill AFB.

Both Harrigan and JPO chief Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan said that the F-35’s Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) remains a major cause of concern. “It’s not achieving its potential,” said Bogdan. “We must understand what’s different about ALIS; it’s a new way of doing business,” said Harrigan. Lockheed Martin “is crystal clear on what we need for [IOC],but it’s a lot of work,” he added.

Meanwhile, the first F-35 to be assembled overseas flew in early September. This was an F-35A for the Italian air force, which took off from Cameri airbase. The final assembly and check out (FACO) facility there is owned by the Italian government and operated by Finmeccanica subsidiary Alenia Aermacchi. The FACO will also assemble Italy’s F-35Bs, and some Dutch F-35As. The Cameri site has also been selected as the F-35 logistics support center for Europe. Alenia Aermacchi is also a second source of F-35A wing sets.

Later in September, Lockheed Martin rolled out the the first F-35A for the Norwegian air force at Fort Worth, Texas. It will be delivered, along with a second Norwegian jet, to Luke AFB, Ariz., for pilot training. According to Lockheed Martin, work on the F-35 program has provided Norwegian industry with more than $450 million in contracts to date, with more to come.