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After a surge of flight test activity the F-35 program completed its 200th test flight last week. On May 5, Graham Tomlison piloted BF-1 for 44 minutes evaluating the jet's flying qualities and airframe loads. The uptempo flying means the program has regained the flight schedule and is well on its way to fulfill the target of 394 flights this year. If not slightly improving on it. At the turn of the month 60 flights had been recorded of 58 planned. In two weeks in April the test teams at Fort Worth and NAS Pax River chalked up no less...

The anticipation was palpable as Vought engineers and our customer watched Lockheed Martin's F-35C Lightning II Carrier Variant dangle from its harnessed position just below the rafters in building 94 at the Jefferson Street site. When the wheels reached their 138 knot speed, the countdown began. 10, 9, 8, 7... The lanyard releasing the quick release safety latch was pulled and the jet was dropped. It was over in five brief seconds. . As a fighter jet approaches the deck of a carrier, forty-six thousand pounds of airplane is traveling at 138 knots and hitting the deck with a thud,...

When Lockheed Martin executive Larry Lawson assumes control of F-35 operations and manufacturing on 7 June, the F-22 programme manager since 2004 will confront a familiar set of challenges, but on an even grander scale. Lockheed announced on 3 May that Lawson will succeed F-35 executive vice-president and general manager Dan Crowley, who is promoted to chief operating officer for the aeronautics sector amid a Congressionally mandated review over projected cost overruns and delays. "It's an ideal time to transition leadership as we prepare for rapid growth," says Ralph Heath, executive vice-president of Lockheed's aeronautics sector. Crowley's F-35 staff is...

Super-Er Hornets? Posted by Bill Sweetman at 5/6/2010 6:30 AM CDT Boeing and its teammates are getting bolder in talking about improvements to the Super Hornet and Growler - a development which coincides with debate over the cost and schedule of the Joint Strike Fighter. At this week's Navy League show in Washington DC, Boeing unveiled an early concept mock-up of a big-screen cockpit for the Super Hornet, aimed at export customers. It looks rather like the JSF cockpit, except that Boeing plans to use one-piece screens rather than two fused panels. Also, rather than eliminating the head-up display completely,...

Australia's minister for defence materiel and science, Greg Combet, has called on Lockheed Martin to give Australian companies more work in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, while ensuring that programme costs remain on track. "Australia, like other JSF partner countries, is seeking an affordable solution, but also wants a good outcome for local industry, given the large investment we are making," says Combet. "To date, 28 Australian companies have won work on the JSF programme, valued at more than A$200 million [$185 million]," Combet told a JSF industry conference in Melbourne, Victoria on 3 May. "This work has...

The Navy may be getting close to releasing its draft study on basing options for the new Marine Corps F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Public meetings to be held on the report have initially been scheduled for June 15, 16 and 17 in the area. The meetings are supposed to be scheduled within a 45-day window on the release of the study, which is supposed to make recommendations concerning the basing of 13 squadrons of the newest Marine Corps jet. Cherry Point could get as many as 11 or as few as two squadrons of the jets among the options the...

With the best of intentions, Congress and the Obama Administration have implemented a series of acquisition-reform measures that are making the problem worse. Efforts to clarify the cost of programs are sowing confusion. Efforts to reduce risk are raising costs. Efforts to restore confidence are undermining political support. In short, acquisition reform is backfiring. A case in point is the F-35 joint strike fighter, a program that will replace the Cold War tactical aircraft of three U.S. military services and at least nine allies with a stealthy, multi-role fighter. According to the Pentagon's most recent Selected Acquisition Report on the...

Two recent rounds of US/Israeli talks about the sale of Lockheed Martin F-35s to the Israeli air force have ended with the same gap that has so far prevented the signature of a letter of agreement. The talks are to resume in May, with Israeli sources saying that "more time and goodwill is needed before an agreement can be signed". Discussions have centred on major issues, including the extent to which Israel will be allowed to install its own electronic warfare systems in the stealth fighter, and the extent of industrial co-operation for its companies. The Israeli air force is...

Representatives from the Italian air force and navy visited the 33rd Fighter Wing recently in an effort to check the progress of the first F-35 integrated training center and learn more about this new coalition venture. Things are moving, and this program is becoming real," said Rear Admiral Paolo Treu, director of Naval Aviation Department and commander of the Italian Fleet Air Arm. "I'm grateful to Eglin for giving us this opportunity. A lot of work has been done. A lot of work has to be done." Italy is one of several partner nations that will be training Joint Strike...

Israeli JSF talks end with stalemate By Arie Egozi Click Here Two recent rounds of US/Israeli talks about the sale of Lockheed Martin F-35s to the Israeli air force have ended with the same gap that has so far prevented the signature of a letter of agreement. The talks are to resume in May, with Israeli sources saying that "more time and goodwill is needed before an agreement can be signed". Discussions have centred on major issues, including the extent to which Israel will be allowed to install its own electronic warfare systems in the stealth fighter, and the extent...

The seventh Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II flight test aircraft took to the skies for the first time today, with the overall objective of validating the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant’s weapons suite.The jet, known as AF-2 and piloted by Lockheed Martin F-35 Test Pilot Jeff Knowles, took off at 5:27 p.m. CDT from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base and flew for 1 hour and 23 minutes. “The first flight of AF-2 is a significant achievement for the F-35 program, the U.S. Air Force and our international partners who will operate the F-35A,” said James...

Italian workshare demands are adding to the Pentagon's list of headaches regarding the F-35 Joint Strike ­Fighter, just as the U.S. is trying to come to terms with a major program restructuring aimed at dealing with development delays and cost overruns. In an effort to extract more work from prime contractor Lockheed Martin or other F-35 partners, the Italian government is—at least briefly—blocking plans to set up a JSF final assembly and checkout (FACO) facility at the Cameri air base in northern Italy. Undersecretary of Defense Guido Crosetto has told his country's lawmakers that the return on investment in the...

Israeli-designed helmet-mounted display unit has been included in the first mission systems-equipped flight of the Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed Martin has used the Israeli-designed HMDS in a test flight on April 7 of the F-35 stealth fighter. L-M said the helmet-mounted display system, designed by Israel's Elbit Systems, marked the first time an F-35 was flown with mission systems. "Today's flight initiates a level of avionics capability that no fighter has ever achieved," L-M's F-35 deputy program manager Eric Branyan said. "The F-35's next-generation sensor suite enables a new capability for multi-role aircraft, collecting vast amounts of data and fusing...

US lawmakers push for back-up plans after F-35 cost increases By Stephen Trimble As cost estimates for the Lockheed Martin F-35 continue rising, some US lawmakers are pushing military officials to increase spending on fourth-generation fighters as a back-up. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut says he considers the F-35 a "really extraordinary aircraft", but is concerned about the military's projected tactical aircraft shortfalls. "There will certainly be pressure to sustain the fourth generation and improvement of aircraft because the fifth generation is coming on more slowly and more expensively than we hoped for," Lieberman told a Senate hearing on the...

When the Marine Corps commandant says equipment he is buying for his people works and is safe, we listen. So when Gen. James Conway told us the vertical takeoff version of the Joint Strike Fighter was not too hot to damage carriers or amphibious ships and was not too loud to harm crews or communities, we listened. So did some folks on Capitol Hill and they questioned whether the Marine leadership was singing too sweet a song. Testing documents obtained by DoD Buzz, said by congressional sources to be the most recent available, raise serious questions about the effects of...

The cost of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 fighter, the most expensive U.S. weapons program, may rise as much as $51 billion beyond the $328 billion estimate given to Congress April 1, according to a worse-case Pentagon scenario. The cost per plane would then be $155 million, 91 percent higher than the $81 million projected when the program began in 2002. The program’s total cost, calculated in current dollars, would increase 64 percent to $379 billion. The Pentagon’s independent cost-analysis office is compiling projections to comply with a law that demands an assessment of any weapons program that exceeds its original...

he U.S. Navy’s first bomb rack design effort in four decades recently met a new milestone. The BRU-69/A multipurpose bomb rack (MPBR) received a Milestone B approval, which authorizes the program to move into the System Development and Demonstration phase. The Navy awarded the Engineering Manufacturing Development contract to Raytheon March 29. The 210-pound rack will replace the current inventory of BRU-33, BRU-41, BRU-42 and BRU-55 racks. “By replacing four racks with one, the MPBR will significantly reduce the Aircraft Armament Equipment (AAE) logistical footprint, aircraft turnaround time and life-cycle cost,” said Capt. Carl Chebi, NAVAIR’s Precision Strike Weapons (PMA-201)...

Defense Department officials have told Congress that the already ballooning costs of the F-35 joint strike fighter are likely to soar much higher when new estimates are completed in the summer. In the Selected Acquisition Report for the F-35, a detailed document sent to Congress on Thursday, the Pentagon said it expects that cost studies now under way will produce estimates dramatically higher than those used in recent months to prepare the 2011 defense budget request. Based on figures in the document, the average cost of one F-35 -- $62 million when the program was launched in 2002 -- could...

Military history was made when the first-ever Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II training squadron, Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, stood up here April 2. The occasion also marked the first time a Marine Corps squadron was embedded in an Air Force wing. "And they couldn't have picked a better place to start," said Lt. Col. James Wellon, VMFAT-501 commander, referring to the 33rd Fighter Wing and Eglin AFB. The "Warlords" squadron was redesignated from the VMFAT-451, a 13-year retired squadron that was reactivated April 1 for the ceremony. "This is truly a historic event," said Maj. Gen. James F....

When the Pentagon’s top buyer appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee, most observers expected Ash Carter to tell lawmakers just how much each F-35 costs and how much the plane is likely to cost over time. That didn’t happen. Winslow Wheeler, a bipartisan conagreassional defense budget expert now at the Center for Defense Information, penned a detailed analysis and commentary picking apart the Pentagon’s numbers and their underlying assumptions. One area sure to spark disagreement is his discussion of F-35 production. This plane is supposed to be the first advanced fighter built on the closest thing to an assembly...