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F-35 program finishes years-late tests needed for full production
Sep 29, 06:28 PM
Two U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning IIs from the
421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron taxi on the runway at Al Udeid Air Base,
Qatar, Sept. 5, 2023. The Pentagon has completed a series of key simulation
tests of the F-35's combat capabilities, that could pave the way for a full
rate production decision. (Tech. Sgt. Leah Ferrante/Air Force)
WASHINGTON — The F-35 program has completed
a long-delayed series of crucial tests,
which could pave the way for a decision next year to officially move the
advanced fighter jet into full-rate production.
The Joint Simulation Environment tests, known
as “runs for score,” were finished Sept. 21, as was the initial trial
validation, F-35 Joint Program Office spokesman Russell Goemaere said in an
email to Defense News Friday.
The Pentagon’s Office of the Director, Operational
Test and Evaluation, will now analyze the data collected in the tests, which
were conducted through much of September. DOT&E’s report on the F-35′s
performance in the JSE tests could be delivered to Pentagon leaders by the end
of December.
The Joint Simulation Environment’s 64 test trials
at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland were designed to put all three
versions of the F-35 through a variety of in-depth scenarios, similar to
situations they would likely encounter in real-world combat.
DOT&E said in a report released in January
that those scenarios would include defensive counter-air, cruise missile
defense, and combined offensive counter-air, air interdiction and destruction
of enemy air defense trials.
The completion of the JSE tests marks a crucial
step for the program — one that is needed before the F-35′s initial operational
test and evaluation phase can be closed, and the Pentagon can make a Milestone
C decision that officially authorizes it to enter full rate production.
In an interview with Air and Space Forces Magazine this
month, the head of the F-35 program, Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt said a Milestone
C decision would likely be made in early 2024. But Schmidt acknowledged to the
magazine that the fighter is already being built at nearly full capacity,
muting the effect a full-rate production authorization would have. Lockheed
Martin typically aims to build roughly 150 F-35s each year.
The watchdog Project on Government Oversight has
criticized the Pentagon for producing F-35s as if it were already in full-rate
production, before such crucial tests were completed. POGO analyst Dan Grazier
told Defense News earlier this year that if the F-35′s testing finds problems
with the fighter before a full-rate production decision is officially made, it
would mean hundreds of fighters already built and in use could need extensive
retrofitting.
The Pentagon originally hoped to make a Milestone
C decision on the F-35 in December 2019, but the deadline repeatedly slipped as
the setup of the Joint Simulation Environment fell further behind schedule.
Creating the simulation environment proved
challenging for the department, and the Pentagon struggled with the
verification, validation and accreditation process. The tests fell years behind
schedule.
In a roundtable with reporters at the Air and
Space Forces Association’s Air Space Cyber conference earlier this month, Air
Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he was confident the JSE would allow the
F-35 to go through the tests it needs, and said it contained “a really
remarkable set of capabilities.”
Kendall said many of the JSE test results would be
classified.
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