USAF to Train on New F-35 Before Year's End

The U.S. Air Force will begin training on new fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft before the end of the year, the program's top official said.

The U.S. Air Force will begin training on new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters at Eglin Air Force Base before year's end, according to the program's top official. (Senior Aiman Julianne Showalter / U.S. Air Force)

The 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will take delivery of 20 F-35A-model conventional take-off variant aircraft with Block 1 training software after a brief informal operational evaluation so that instructor pilots can begin their training, said Vice Adm. Dave Venlet, the new JSF program executive officer.

"We're going to put them in the hands of the fleet and the Air Force is going to be operating [Conventional take-off and landing aircraft] in training at Eglin before the year ends," Venlet told a luncheon hosted by the National Aeronautic Association.
However, because it is unusual for an aircraft to be delivered to line pilots before formal operational testing is complete, Venlet said that the program will conduct an abbreviated informal test prior to handing over the new fighters.
"It's not a full operational test, it doesn't resolve any measures of effectiveness," he said.
However, it will provide an independent evaluation to the services as to how well the new fighter performs in the real world.
"It will inform [Air Education and Training Command]," Venlet said, referring to the Air Force's training arm.
Other than the "operational assessment" of the Air Force F-35 version, Venlet said he hopes to complete sea-trials with the Marine Corps' vertical-landing F-35B model in the fall. That variant has made 30 vertical landings this year, which is good progress towards taking the plane out to sea, he said.
Additionally, the F-35C version for the U.S. Navy's carrier fleet will complete "static structural tests" this year to verify the strength of its airframe. Carrier-borne aircraft require especially robust structures to withstand the stress of arrested landings onboard a ship.
One area where there is a problem is the aircraft's helmet-mounted display, Venlet said. While the helmet is safe to fly, and test pilots fly with the equipment everyday, the images are jittery, he explained. However, the problem is especially pronounced with the night-vision system, Venlet said. The F-35 uses a revolutionary apparatus called the Distributed Aperture System where images from six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft's fuselage are displayed in the pilot's visor.
Because pilots have to train with the helmet-mounted display, the program is looking at short-term alternatives. One alternative could be to display the imagery on the aircraft's head-down flat-panel displays, Venlet said. Early training flights could use night-vision goggle similar to current aircraft, he added. However, those are not satisfactory solutions long-term, Venlet said. "We're not giving up on the requirement," he declared.
Venlet also said that developmental testing is now slated to end in the first quarter of fiscal year 2016 when flight sciences testing of the A-model and C-model jets, along with the mission systems testing for the variants, will be complete. The F-35B, which has an especially challenging flight envelope to clear due to its unique vertical-landing capability, will lag behind until the fourth quarter of that year. The formal operational testing plan is being reviewed, Venlet said, in order to better integrate it with the flight test plan.
Overall, the Air Force requirement is holding steady at 1763 jets while the Navy and Marine Corps are still planning on buying 680 planes, Venlet said.

Ten Ships in U.S. Navy's Budget Request

Few surprises were evident in the U.S. Navy's 2012 budget request made public Feb. 14. Overall spending remains nearly the same in fiscal 2012 as the previous year, although the service is asking for modest increases in the number of ships and aircraft.
The Department of the Navy, which includes the Navy and Marine Corps, is asking for $161 billion in its baseline budget request, plus another $15 billion for war funding. The baseline request is $800 million over the 2011 request, while the department asked for $3.5 billion more in 2011 war funding.

The 2012 request asks for $45.8 billion in procurement spending, down from $46.6 billion a year ago. The Navy wants $46.6 billion in personnel costs, up from $45.1 billion in 2011; $47.9 billion in operations and maintenance as against $46.2 billion last year; $18 billion in research and development compared with $17.7 billion in 2011; and $3.1 billion in infrastructure costs, down from $5 billion.
Two ships were added to the 2012 request compared with plans a year ago. As announced in late December, an extra Littoral Combat Ship is being requested in 2012, for a total of four ships. An additional mobile landing platform (MLP) ship is now in the 2012 request, a change from the previous plan to buy the three ships in alternate years beginning in 2011. The new scheme to procure the ships in consecutive years allows shipbuilder National Steel and Shipbuilding in San Diego, Calif., to take advantage of efficiencies by accomplishing more work at once.
Two more Virginia-class SSN 774 nuclear attack submarines, an Arleigh Burke-class DDG 51 destroyer, a San Antonio-class LPD 17 amphibious ship, and a joint high-speed vessel (JHSV) round out the 2012 shipbuilding request.
An additional JHSV is being requested for the U.S. Army, for a total of 11 ships in the Pentagon's shipbuilding program.
Aircraft procurement showed a number of changes, many due to Defense Secretary Robert Gates' decision announced Jan. 6 to restructure the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, pushing back procurement of the F-35B vertical or short take-off or landing (VSTOL) version for the Marine Corps.
That decision, which put the F-35B on a two-year "probation" period, included slashing the 2011 request from 13 aircraft to three.
For 2012, the Navy reduced its previously planned buy of 14 F-35Bs to just six - the minimum, Gates said, to maintain the Lockheed Martin production line.
Across the next six years, the Navy reduced its total F-35B buy from 115 aircraft to 50, and reduced the number of F-35C carrier-based JSF variants from 74 to 72.
To compensate, the number of Boeing F/A-18 E and F Super Hornet strike fighters was increased from 1 aircraft in 2012 to 28. The total number of Es and Fs to be purchased over the next three years jumped from 26 to 67.
The procurement of EA-18G Growler electronic countermeasures aircraft from Boeing remains the same, but the buy was split, moving from 24 planned for 2012 to 12 in 2012 and another dozen in 2013.
Planned buys of the new Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft also rose slightly, to 11 for 2012, up from 9, and a total of 92 aircraft through 2016, up from a previously planned 85.
Overall buys of the new T-6 joint training aircraft from Raytheon fell, from 78 aircraft over the next two years to 60.
Planned purchases of the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter from Northrop Grumman, however, jumped in 2012 from three to 12, and rose over the next five years from 31 to 57 aircraft.
Weapons procurement saw a number of changes, with production of the SM-2 Standard surface-to-air (SAM) missile from Raytheon coming to an end - 239 missiles eliminated through 2016 - and buys of the new SM-6 SAM dropping, from 717 missiles through 2016 to 659.
Major gains, however, were found in the AGM-114 Hellfire missile from Boeing and Lockheed Martin, jumping in 2012 from 281 to 421, and the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System from BAE Systems, jumping 60 percent in 2012 and more than 70 percent through 2016.
Research and development expenditures for the new Ohio-class ballistic missile replacement program are ramping up, from $672 million in 2011 to $1.07 billion in 2012. Work on the new Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) drone - the operational successor to the Northrop Grumman's X-47B concept demonstrator that first flew Feb. 4 - is also set to begin, with a request for $121 million in 2012.
Ship and aircraft maintenance funding is taking a hit in 2012. Last year's request sought to fund 99 percent of projected ship maintenance, 100 percent for deployed aircraft squadrons and 97 percent for non-deployed squadrons. The 2012 request will fund only 94 percent of total ship and aviation depot maintenance.
The Navy plans to lower its personnel end strength in 2012 by 3,000, for a force of 325,700 uniformed personnel. Reserve strength is to be reduced over the next three years from today's 66,200 to 63,300 in 2014.
Marine Corps end strength will remain at just over 202,000 through 2014, when a reduction of 15,000 will begin if forces are able to leave Afghanistan.