Marines Ready, But Is JSF?

[ErnstBlofeld]

Aviation Week and Space Technology/Bill Sweetman:

Delays in vertical landing tests with the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) version of Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter are driving a reassessment of the U.S. Marine Corps’ plans for the jet’s service entry.

The Marines insist they will achieve initial operational capability (IOC), with eight ship-qualified aircraft and 20 pilots, by late 2012. That is only six months later than the IOC date set in 2006, but the Air Force and Navy have delayed their IOC dates by three years (until early 2016) because of late aircraft deliveries and a slow-starting flight-test program.

Those 2006 plans called for the F-35B to commence vertical landing tests in early 2008, but that did not happen until early 2010. By now, developmental testing of the Block 1 avionics and weapons package should have been completed, but Block 1 has yet to fly on the F-35. This year should have seen delivery of the third low-rate initial production (LRIP) batch of aircraft, but the two LRIP-1 aircraft are in the factory.

One of the actions following the JSF program’s Nunn-McCurdy breach, disclosed in March, was the launch of a technical baseline review (TBR) that supports a Defense Acquisition Board review of the program in November. USAF Materiel Command and Naval Air Systems Command dominate the TBR. Both have, until now, delegated management of the program to the JSF Program Office. One focal point of the review is the path to IOC, and the Marines—aiming for IOC 40-plus months ahead of the other services—are clearly the most difficult case.

There are three main items on the critical path to IOC for the Marines. The most basic is the vertical landing test program. Only one (BF-1) of the five test F-35Bs is configured for early vertical landing tests, and the plan called for 42 vertical landings before the remaining aircraft fly in powered-lift mode. Due to mechanical and other problems, only a dozen or so landings have been performed, and BF-2 is being modified to join the campaign.