Foro Militar General

Ashton Carter, the Pentagon's top arms buyer, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that buying more than 2,400 F-35s would cost twice as much in real terms as originally estimated, absent significant changes.
This was "unacceptable and unaffordable," he told the panel, while voicing confidence the government would succeed in cutting excess costs in the coming months and years.

“It seems to me [prudent that] we at least begin considering alternatives,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said during a hearing May 19, after hearing that current estimates show the program’s development and sustainment are unaffordable.

The estimated costs “are not set in concrete,” Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Officer Robert Stevens said at a breakfast for reporters on May 24. He pledged to work with Pentagon officials to help bring them down.

“This is a critical juncture, because there has recently been a conspicuous absence of public [Lockheed Martin] support for DOD leadership on the F-35 program,” defense consultant Jim McAleese said. He said it is vital for the company to engage with the Pentagon in the cost-cutting effort to prevent a cutback in orders that would increase unit prices and cause a “death spiral” for the program just as Gates is leaving. He said it’s not yet known to what extent CIA Director Leon Panetta, nominated to replace Gates, would support the F-35.

Iris escribió:Pues ojo con los aumentos de costes del programa, últimamente parece ser que EE.UU. no está en situación financiera muy boyante:

http://es.finance.yahoo.com/news/Pimco- ... 1.html?x=0

.- Saludos.

Defpro escribió:Lockheed Martin F-35 Program Flight Test Update

FORT WORTH, Texas | Overall, the F-35 program remains ahead of the overall goals for test flights and test points year-to-date. Through May 31, the program accomplished 378 flights versus a plan of 297 and accomplished 3,342 test points against a plan of 2,217.

Several flight test and production key milestones were accomplished since the last report:

• The F-35B short takeoff /vertical landing (STOVL) jet BF-1 performed the 100th vertical landing for the test program on May 12. For 2011, 106 vertical landings have been performed.
• The F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jet AF-1 flew to Mach 1.53, the fastest-to-date speed of the existing aircraft fleet. AF-7 completed the longest test mission to date lasting 4.1 hours.
• During the month of May, all three variants of the F-35 flew a combined total of 94 System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flights, the most achieved in a single month in program history.
• The F-35 program flew the most flights ever recorded on one day (May 25) when a combined total of 10 flights (includes SDD and LRIP) were completed at all three of its flight test locations at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB), Calif.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. (PAX).
• The U.S. Air Force accepted into its fleet, the second of a planned 1,763 production-model F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters when AF-6 was delivered to EAFB on May 13. AF-6 was the second aircraft in Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lot one contractually delivered.
• One of the first two F-35A production aircraft that will be delivered to Eglin AFB, Fla., accomplished its first flight on May 13. Known as AF-9, the aircraft will be delivered to Eglin for pilot and maintainer training later this year. This jet is the second aircraft to fly from LRIP lot two.
• Two F-35C carrier variant (CV) aircraft, known as CF-2 and CF-3, were delivered to the F-35 test fleet at PAX. CF-2 was delivered May 16 and CF-3 delivered June 2.
• CF-2 successfully completed the first F-35 public fly by at the Andrews AFB, Md., Joint Services Open House Air Show during the opening ceremony for the event May 21.

The following statistics reflect the cumulative flight test activity totals for 2011:
• F-35A CTOL jets have flown 183 times.
• F-35B STOVL aircraft have completed 166 flights.
• F-35C CV jets have flown 62 times.
• From the start of flight testing in December 2006 through June 13, 2011, F-35s flew 971 times, including the production-model acceptance flights and AA-1.

The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th Generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems.

reuters escribió:Lockheed Martin: willing to outsource F-35 production to Japan


TOKYO (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) is willing to outsource some production of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Japanese firms if the country's government decides to buy them as its next mainstay fighter aircraft, an executive at the U.S. company said on Friday.
Lockheed Martin is also confident it can complete operational tests by 2016 and meet delivery and technical requirements set by Japan's Ministry of Defense, said John Balderston, who heads Lockheed's F-35 campaign in Japan.
"We fully understand the importance of the Japanese defense industry as part of national security posture and we will work with Japanese industry to produce its next generation airplane," Balderston told Reuters in an interview in Tokyo.
"We are confident that we can fully meet the MOD's delivery and other requirements."
Japan has yet to decide how it will replace its current fleet of aging F-4 Phantom fighters, whose design dates back to the 1960s and which have become increasingly difficult to maintain. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) is also set to end production of its F-2 aircraft in 2011, raising concerns over the future of Japan's fighter-jet industry.
Along with the F-35, Boeing Co's (BA.N) F/A-18 Super Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon have been short-listed for the final fighter jet selection, which Japan aims to make this year.
Japan, which plans to order 40 to 50 new fighter jets, wants delivery by March 2017, according to local media reports. The country has come under pressure to make a selection as the decision has already been delayed by at least three years.
BALLOONING COSTS
The development of the stealth, supersonic F-35, due to replace various aircraft in the military fleets of both the United States and its partners, has been hampered by delays and ballooning costs.
The fighters is the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase, most recently projected to total more than $380 billion over the coming two decades. U.S. lawmakers last month urged the Pentagon to think of alternatives to the F-35 program if costs cannot be brought down.
Balderston said, however, that the company would resolve development issues and that new F-35 testing programs are ahead of schedule.
The F-35 is expected to account for more than 20 percent of Lockheed's global sales when it enters full production.

airforcetimes escribió:Officials: Military may deploy F-35 early


The military may deploy the F-35 joint strike fighter before the tri-service combat jet formally achieves initial operational capability, top uniformed officials told Congress earlier this week.
While the Marine Corps has always maintained that it would declare IOC with interim Block 2B software, the Air Force and Navy require that the aircraft be fielded with Block 3 software.
However, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force and Navy leaders said Tuesday they would consider deploying the fifth-generation stealth fighter into combat zones with interim Block 2B software, provided there were no safety concerns.
“If the combatant commander said, ‘Bring me this capability,’ then we clearly would provide it,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, the service’s deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements.
The Navy’s director of warfare integration, Rear Adm. David Philman, concurred.
“I don’t see any reason we wouldn’t be able to be told to go into theater, assuming all the safety considerations have been taken care of,” he said.
Both the Navy and the Air Force would have some number of the aircraft prior to any IOC date, but the specifics of how many planes would be available is not yet known.
“We will have a number, probably on the order of 100 airplanes, delivered to operational units before we declare initial operational capability,” Carlisle said. “Clearly, although we may not declare IOC, we’ll be training, we’ll be doing the tactics, training and procedures with the Block 2.”
The maintenance and logistical systems would also be built during that period, he said.
Philman said the Navy would have some aircraft available, but not as many as the Air Force.
Marine Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, the Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, testified alongside Carlisle and Philman that his service still plans to declare IOC with the interim Block 2B software and would have about 50 F-35s available near that time. He said IOC for the Marines is now estimated to fall between 2014 and 2015, a two-year slip.
Even with the interim software, the F-35 would be vastly more capable than existing warplanes, the three flag officers said.
“There is a lot of capability even in the Block 2 airplanes that looks very impressive,” Carlisle said.
However, the Air Force and the Navy will insist upon Block 3 hardware and software for their formal IOC declarations, Carlisle and Philman said.
Insisting on Block 3 will allow the Pentagon to keep the pressure on Lockheed Martin, the F-35’s prime contractor.
“I’ll be perfectly frank: In a lot of cases, if you delay an IOC, you can maintain pressure on a contractor,” Carlisle said.
IOC for the Air Force and Navy, like the Marines, will slip by about two years from 2016, Carlisle and Philman said.
None of the three services has set a fixed IOC date, but Philman said the 2016 date is no longer valid.

haaretz escribió:U.S. may scrap F35, set to be Israel's fighter jet of the future

The warplane, with stealth capabilities, was slated to replace an entire generation of jet fighters in the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps
Senior members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee last week instructed the Pentagon to come up with alternatives to the jet fighter of the future, the F-35, with the project facing massive cost overruns.
The plane has been selected as the future of the Israel Air Force, and for now there are no plans for an alternative if the American project is shelved.
U.S. Defense Department officials presented the latest data last Thursday to the senate committee on the F-35s test flights and costs.
The plane, with stealth capabilities, is slated to replace an entire generation of jet fighters in the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
But after hearing the data, committee chairman Senator Carl Levin and committee member Senator John McCain said it seemed time to consider alternatives.
The remarks at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, a forum that has historically supported military spending, seems to be the most serious threat the F-35 has faced so far.
"We cannot sacrifice other important acquisitions in the Department of Defense investment portfolio to pay for this capability," Levin said.
The sense in Washington is that after years in which there was strong political backing for the American defense industries' banner project, senior politicians are having to scale back support in the face of a mounting budget deficit.
Last November, the bi-partisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform called for a complete halt in the purchase of one model of the F-35, slated for operation on aircraft carriers, and to halve the purchase of the rest of the models.
At the moment, a purchase of 2,443 planes is planned for the U.S. Air Force, the Navy and the Marines, with foreign countries, including Israel, purchasing another approximately 600 jets.
However, some of these countries are already cutting back on their orders. The cost of one F-35 was planned to have been $69 million, but according to the Pentagon's calculation, the cost has now risen to $103 million and according to Government Accountability Office calculations from last year, it could climb to $112 million.
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisitions Ashton Carter told the Senate panel that the costs are "unacceptable," but pledged to find ways to reduce them.
Some of the cost of the aircraft, manufactured by Lockheed-Martin, stems from significant delays in the test program, in integrating its advanced systems and in a structural problem discovered during testing.
The planes are planned to begin entering into service in the U.S. Air Force in 2013, but it is now believed that only in 2015 will the plane's final software package be fully integrated and only in 2016 will the "Block 3" series, with full technological capabilities, be ready for operational flights.
Israel's Defense Ministry has so far ordered 20 F-35s, but the Israel Air Force has plans to outfit three of its operational squadrons with the aircraft, a total of between 60 and 75 planes.
The Israel Defense Forces is now concerned over the expected delay in delivery of the planes. A senior member of the IDF General Staff raised the possibility that to release older planes from service, the IAF lease from the Americans a squadron of used F-15s. However, in an interview with Haaretz two weeks ago, Defense Ministry Director General Udi Shani rejected the idea.
"On the last visit of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in Israel a month ago, we were told that the delay would be less than what we had thought," he said.
Shani said the delay could allow Israel to outfit the planes with its own systems. "I am in favor of getting a plane with ... as many systems as possible made in Israel ... According to the original schedule we were told there was no time for that. We have teams in the United States now and after the holiday we'll hear their conclusions and I imagine dialogue will start with the Americans over a new schedule and changes."

Chaco escribió:Fue impulsado por una catapulta de vapor hoy 27 julio, lo que marca un hito importante en el programa de pruebas para calificar la aeronave para operaciones, del primer caza F-35C Joint Strike (JSF), siendo volado por el piloto de pruebas de la Armada el teniente Chris Tabert, en las instalaciones de la Marina de los EE.UU. de prueba de la aviación en la Estación Aérea Naval Lakehurst, Nueva Jersey, Naval Air Systems Command (CNSA).

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i= ... =AME&s=AIR

Un falla pone en tierra la flota de F-35

Todos los vuelos y operaciones en tierra del Joint Strike Fighter fueron suspendidos, en tanto se determine la causa de una falla eléctrica en su sistema secundario de energía.