Posted on 01/01/2021 6:47:15 AM PST by PIF
With critical test and evaluation work still unfinished, the full-rate production decision will be left to the future Biden administration.
In a setback for the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter program, the U.S. Department of Defense has formally decreed that a decision on full-rate production of the jet is on indefinite hold. The Milestone C decision on whether or not to ramp up the manufacture of Joint Strike Fighters had been due in or before March 2021, but has now been on hold pending completion of the final phase of operational testing of the F-35.
... more than 600 F-35s have been manufactured so far by the Joint Strike Fighter enterprise ... Ultimately, the manufacturing run of the F-35 could reach 3,200 aircraft, depending on different nations’ requirements and emerging new customers. Initial Operational Test & Evaluation (IOT&E) is a formal requirement before the formal launch of full-rate production
This a critical, roughly month-long testing phase was originally supposed to begin in 2017. That schedule subsequently slipped and there had been a hope that those trials would begin this month. Now, the F-35 is not likely to enter the Joint Simulation Environment until mid-to-late 2021.
The Pentagon delaying the Milestone C decision is the latest complication to afflict the F-35 program, which only completed the previous System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase in 2018 and did so only after the Joint Program Office had deleted a number of test points in order to meet its goals. Despite this, the 10-year-long SDD effort still failed to meet the much-revised schedule.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
"The continued failure to complete IOT&E - and in turn trigger a full-rate production decision - means that question marks will continue to hang over the viability of the jet..."
Don’t worry. The Chicoms will continue production.
Just move production to china and biteme and the whore will approve an unlimited supply.
Trump has a sharper pencil than Biden
On one hand, it probably falls short of its requirements. On the other hand, they are stuck with it.
Modern weapons systems are sufficiently complex that they will probably only reach their potential years, if not decades, after deployment.
Guess you guys are missing the point - there are major problems with this plane; it may never go into full production. I can assure you that the Chinese would love the tech, but never place the plane in the PLAAF failing so many critical tests.
So what you are saying is that the services that use the F-35 actually bought a high-priced POS? Great.
The evaluators will never accept thousands of hours in real flight ops or combat operations in place of formal testing. Back in 1991 we had a new system that participated in Operations Desert Shield/Storm. The evaluators told us that warfare was not a suitable substitute for operational testing.
[I can assure you that the Chinese would love the tech, but never place the plane in the PLAAF failing so many critical tests.]
Yeah, the Leftists - that was my great disappointment with the War Zone; the Trump-hatred is palpable in some comments blocks; and to my reading has driven away many of the regular military guys; even correcting a leftist’s historical mistake can get your comment deleted by the Admin and get you banned.
They may not like the F-35, but the criteria for full production is real and neither left nor right.
As it stands, the F-35 (even if perfected tomorrow) can only be used in uncontested air. In a peer conflict it will have to remain far behind guarding AWACS and re-fuelers. Its cannon pod destroys any stealth and is virtually useless with only 215 rounds. It can only carry a few missiles internally, none of which match the R-77M (120 mile range) or the R-37 (over 200 mile range) for BVR - the R-37 is mounted on SU-35s and SU-57s.
[So what you are saying is that the services that use the F-35 actually bought a high-priced POS? Great.]
Their procurement budgets are tight and getting tighter, as they have convinced themselves that their virtue has kept them sovereign, not a strong defense. They’re in no mood to buy overpriced garbage, and they certainly have the option of purchasing Swedish, French, British and even Russian hardware as alternatives. They are also able to buy the F-18 and the F-15. And yet they keep coming back to the F-35. That’s not an accident.
My SIL is an engineer on the lift fan system (Rolls Royce) for the B variant. So it’s definitely a job creator.
They’d love this plane for living up to original mission specs.
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But it cannot ever meet the original specs! Which is most of the point of the test requirements. They might use the tech in some new jet, but they have mostly gotten all they need in that area. What they need is to figure out how to manufacture crystalline jet engine turbine blades.
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The likely avenue is to get kicked in the nuts through a Pearl Harbor-style attack by a peer/near-peer competitor.
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One that takes out the Pentagon brass where most of the problems lie. Low cost, survivable, effective are not words permitted in the planning rooms.
[As it stands, the F-35 (even if perfected tomorrow) can only be used in uncontested air. In a peer conflict it will have to remain far behind guarding AWACS and re-fuelers. Its cannon pod destroys any stealth and is virtually useless with only 215 rounds. It can only carry a few missiles internally, none of which match the R-77M (120 mile range) or the R-37 (over 200 mile range) for BVR - the R-37 is mounted on SU-35s and SU-57s.]
[Low cost, survivable, effective are not words permitted in the planning rooms.]
I’m not saying anything other than what the facts on the ground are
And as for buying POS, just look to the US Navy with the failed mission-less, defenseless, nonsurvivable DDG-1000, or the scraper-bound LCS ships, or the Ford Class CVN coming in at $13 billion and still not ready for deployment, relegated to a training ship until things are fixed - if ever. Of course the Navy is building more of each of these classes. Don’t even start on the US Army.
LOL.
Can't meet your goals?
Lower the bar!
[But it cannot ever meet the original specs!]
You were just arguing for WWII production with fast cheap and survivable, now that’s a unicorn? I’m confused.
The F-35 is all about making the many Pentagon Planners and other Perfumed Princes proud of their cutting edge toys is all - service wide.
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