July 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By COLIN CLARK
WASHINGTON: Presumptive Defense Secretary Mark Esper says flatly the F-35 “is not expected” to meet the 80 percent readiness goal set for it this year because of problems with a cockpit part that improves stealth performance.
“Transparency (canopy) supply shortages continue to be the main obstacle to achieving this. We are seeking additional sources to fix unserviceable canopies,” Esper said in response to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committe (SASC).
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) mentioned the canopy issue in a recent report, calling it a “special coating on the F-35 canopy that enables the aircraft to maintain its stealth.” That, the congressional watchdog said. “failed more frequently than expected” so F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin went looking for more manufactures to produce enough canopies to meet demands. GAO also said the F-35 program was considering a new design.
This is all apiece with the general problem the F-35 program has had with obtaining new and spare parts.
“A key contributor to spare parts shortages is the F-35 program's limited capacity to repair broken parts,” the GAO says in its April report. “The average time to repair an F-35 part was more than 6 months, or about 188 days for repairs completed between September and November 2018—more than twice that of the program's objective of 60-90 days.”
Lockheed late last night sent comments on the transparency and its general efforts to improve F-35 readiness.
UPDATE BEGINS “We are working closely with our F-35 transparency provider to build production and repair capacity and we are standing up a second source of supply. As these actions deliver results, we expect to improve supply availability and overall fleet readiness,” F-35 program spokesman Mike Friedman said,
“We continue to see improvements in F-35 readiness rates and are receiving positive feedback from our customers, most recently from the Air Force who have several squadrons simultaneously deployed in the Middle East and across Europe for joint exercises and operations,” Friedman added. “Newer F-35 aircraft are averaging greater than 60 percent mission capable rates, with some operational squadrons consistently at or above 70 percent. We're taking aggressive action across the full F-35 enterprise to achieve the 80 percent mission capable rate target as soon as possible.”UPDATE ENDS
As the SASC noted, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis ordered the Air Force and Navy to increase mission capable rates for the F-35, F-22, F-16, and F-18 inventories to above 80 percent by the end of September 2019. “What progress,” the committee asked in the written questions, “has the Department made in increasing mission capable rates and decreasing costs for all four platforms?”
The good news for the Air Force is that F-16 rates are better because the service has been able to increase parts supplies and add maintenance shifts. The F-16 fleet is expected to meet the 80 percent goal this year, Esper wrote.
Not so, the F-22. It too faces stealth maintenance issue, made worse, Esper noted, “by the extreme damage at Tyndall Air Force Base from the effects of Hurricane Michael.” The F-22 fleet rates are improving but it probably won't make 80 percent this year. Oh, and Congress: “Improving mission capable rates for both fleets required additional funding investment for this fiscal year.”
The Navy's fleet of F-18 is on track to meet the goal by September 2019. The Navy created a Maintenance Operations Center (MOC) to coordinate maintenance activities and optimize resources and reformed its depot and front-line maintenance process, thus improving regular inspections. Among a host of other changes, the Navy implemented supply chain reform that made it easier to track data across multiple sources.
In the meantime, to address the gap in part repair capabilities at the military depots, the prime contractor Boeing has begun incentivizing manufacturers to increase their capacity to repair spare parts by establishing performance-based repair agreements. As of October 2018, according to program documentation, Boeing had established seven such agreements, with six more planned by May 2019.
I contacted Lockheed and the F-35 Joint Program Office for comment and will add it when it arrives.
https://breakingdefense.com/2019/07/esper-f-35-wont-hit-80-readiness-cites-stealth-parts/
April 28, 2024 | International, Security
Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a targeted cyber attack against Ukraine that leveraged a 7-year-old Microsoft Office flaw to deploy Cobalt St
July 17, 2020 | International, C4ISR
Mark Pomerleau When it comes to the Army's contribution to a new joint architecture for battlefield command and control, the service said it will collaborate with industry in the very early stages. James McPherson, undersecretary of the Army, said during an AFCEA-hosted webcast July 14 that the service will ask industry for its input into potential solutions for Joint All-Domain Command and Control prior to writing and publishing official requirements. JADC2 is a new concept that seeks to connect sensors across the joint force to shooters making systems interoperable to share data, which officials believe will provide overmatch against sophisticated adversaries in a contested fight. The Joint Staff has created a cross-functional team to guide the military's efforts. “We're looking to really partner with industry in a different way rather than just passing a document over the transom saying: ‘Here's a requirement. Industry, can you meet this?' We want to take the transom down and have a conversation with industry and say: ‘Here are some of the characteristics we're thinking about — what are your thoughts?' ” McPherson said. “ ‘Here's the characteristics that we're looking for with regard to JADC2. Industry, how can you meet some of those characteristics? What other great ideas do you have, industry, to meet those characteristics? How do we turn those into requirements?' Then we turn that into a procurement document,” he added. McPherson said earlier that morning that the top echelons of Army leadership met to hammer out some of those characteristics. He also said the Army is brainstorming how to include coalition partners in this new architecture. “One of the pieces that the chief brought up is, you know, we're going to have to add a letter in front of JADC2, and that's combined. We need to start doing that,” McPherson said. “We need to start sharing, especially with our Five Eye[s] allies, but others as well ... what our concept of this battlefield of 2040 is going to look like and how we can partner with them in going forward with our data management and all things data in that future battlefield.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2020/07/16/army-wants-early-industry-input-on-jadc2-battlefield-concept/
August 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace
by Jon Grevatt Saab has reaffirmed its intention to offer its GlobalEye platform for South Korea's recently announced programme to acquire additional airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft for the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF). Saab told Janes that it expects the procurement to feature an initial two aircraft acquired through either an open tender or a direct acquisition. South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) is expected to confirm the procurement method later this year. A Saab spokesperson said that the company's offer will also include “both technology and collaboration projects” that match South Korea's future aerospace requirements and involve “multiple stakeholders from the military, government, industry, and other partners”. While detail on these projects will be expanded as the programme enters future phases, the spokesperson said Saab has already developed “clear principles and ideas for collaboration” as well as highlighted its own capabilities to local stakeholders, and “gathered information on Korean industry”. The spokesperson said, “Korea is a country with a highly skilled and developed industry opening several interesting areas for co-operation which we hope to explore further in the coming stages of the programme.” Although not confirmed by the company, this is likely to draw on Saab's existing industry ties in the country, which include strong links with LIG Nex1, one of South Korea's leading military electronics and missile manufacturers. Saab and LIG Nex1 have previously collaborated on supplying the Swedish group's Arthur Weapon Locating System to the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and on developing radar technologies. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/saab-prepares-globaleye-bid-for-south-korea