Four European armored vehicles qualify for Polish competition

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  6 septembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  F-22, F-35 jets won’t hit Mattis’ readiness targets

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force's stealthy fighters will not meet an 80 percent mission-capable rate requirement set by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, top officials revealed Wednesday. Appearing at the 2019 Defense News Conference, Lt. Gen. Mark Kelly, deputy chief of staff for operations, said that the F-22 and F-35A would both fall short of the capability target set by Mattis shortly before his exit from the Pentagon. The F-16, however, “should” hit that target rate. In a memo first revealed by Defense News last October, Mattis ordered the Pentagon's F-35, F-22, F-16 and F-18 aircraft inventories to hit 80 percent mission-capability rates. A July investigation by sister publication Air Force Times revealed that in fiscal 2018, when Mattis issued the memo, the service was in a readiness nose dive: Of the 5,413 or so aircraft in the fleet, the percentage able to fly at any given time decreased steadily each year since at least FY12, when 77.9 percent of aircraft were deemed flyable. By FY17, that metric plunged to 71.3 percent, and it dipped again to 69.97 percent in FY18. Analysts were skeptical that such an increase could be achieved in just one year, and it appears that skepticism was well-founded. However, Kelly argued, not all mission-capable rates are created equal. “We learned a lot from the MC80 [mission-capable 80 percent] effort. One of the big things we learned is that our long-range readiness strategy, which takes a lot more consideration than MC80, is frankly a more viable strategy,” he said of an effort that takes a more holistic approach to whether needed assets are ready to use. “MC80 is actually a very important metric of how ready we are to go to war, but there is an easy way for the Air Force to achieve MC80 on any airframe, and that's to just stop flying. We actually flew more,” Kelly said. The F-22 struggled to hit 80 percent in large part because the low-observable coating on the plane requires slow, careful work to maintain, which drags down the mission-capable rates. The F-35A, meanwhile, was being stood up and flown more during this period than ever before, which was beneficial for the service, but meant that mission-capable rates were impacted by operational use. “So facts matter,” Kelly concluded. “The facts are: We won't make it, but the data behind the facts is we're actually having pretty good success.” During the panel, Air Force leaders were asked if the 386 squadron target, first unveiled last September, is still a hard goal for the service. Lt. Gen. Timothy Fay, deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration and requirements, didn't provide a concrete answer, but he did indicate that capability — as opposed to capacity — may be a more important standard for the future. “386 was an number we worked very hard on,” Fay said. “But it's not just a question of capacity. ... Yes, we have a force that's too small,” but the service is now “looking at new technologies, new ways to use those technologies.” https://www.defensenews.com/smr/defense-news-conference/2019/09/04/f-22-f-35-wont-hit-mattis-readiness-targets/

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  11 mars 2024 | International, Terrestre

  Hypersonic weapon startup Castelion has first prototype missile test

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  30 août 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  The Pentagon is downplaying serious problems with the F-35, watchdog says

  by Travis J. Tritten The Pentagon is trying to paper over serious problems with the F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft that could endanger troops, according to an investigation released Wednesday by the Project On Government Oversight. An oversight board looking at development of the high-tech fighter made by Lockheed Martin decided in June to downgrade 19 of the aircraft's most severe deficiencies without a plan for fixes, the watchdog group found. The moves could help speed up the F-35 program, the most expensive in Pentagon history, as it moves into a critical phase of development, said Dan Grazier, a military fellow at POGO and long-time program watcher. “They want to be able to go up to Capitol Hill and say, ‘Nope, we don't have any more Category 1 deficiencies,'” Grazier said. Those types of deficiencies can lead to death and injury, loss of the aircraft or a halt to the F-35 production line. The 19 Category 1 deficiencies downgraded by the F-35 Deficiency Review Board on June 4 included an emergency alert system for when pilots eject and a system for bombing coordinates that could protect troops on the ground from friendly fire. The issues were moved to Category II status, which can impede a military mission, according to board meeting minutes obtained by POGO. Overall, the Government Accountability Office found the F-35 has 111 of the most severe Category 1 problems and 855 deficiencies classified as Category II. “This is not how the development process is supposed to work,” according to the watchdog's investigation. The Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin did not immediately comment on the POGO investigation. The next big hurdle for the F-35 comes on Sept. 15, which is the deadline for initial test and evaluation of the aircraft. The tri-service fighters are billed as the most advanced in the world and are chock full of new military technology. The Air Force and Marine Corps variants are already in operational use. The Navy's version is expected to be deemed ready to deploy next year. “We are obviously just three weeks away from that, so the big rush to kind of clear up these paperwork issues is to try to meet that deadline,” Grazier said. “Having these deficiencies, it actually increases the likelihood that the program will not pass IOT&E.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/the-pentagon-is-downplaying-serious-problems-with-the-f-35-watchdog-says