Pentagon says F-35 'could do better' in 2011 trials reportBy Marina Malenic
1/19/2012
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter's testing record last year was "mixed", according to the US Department of Defense's chief of testing, and revealed a lower-than-expected mission systems capability at this stage in its more than 15 years of development.
"Overall the [F-35 programme] has demonstrated very little missions system capability thus far in flight-tests," Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation, wrote in the 2011 annual report on the department's developmental weapon systems. "In fact the programme has not delivered some of its intended initial training capability, such as effective and consistent radar performance," he added.
Lockheed Martin is building three variants of the F-35: a conventional take-off and landing A-model for the US Air Force and most international customers; a short take-off and vertical landing B-model for the US Marine Corps and Italy; and a carrier variant C-model for the US Navy and the UK Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
Gilmore noted that the programme exceeded the 812 test-flights planned for 2011 by 105 flights and the 133 planned flights devoted to testing mission systems by 56. However, flight 'sciences' tests designed to demonstrate specific systems such as targeting or navigation were behind schedule by 11 per cent for the A-model and 9 per cent for the B-model - although the C-model was 32 per cent ahead of schedule for the year.
Further, of the 63 production-model aircraft delivered under the first four low-rate initial production contracts, all will "require significant numbers of structural modifications and upgrades" to attain full operational capability, according to the report.
An earlier study by Pentagon engineering and test officials released in November 2011 identified 13 distinct structural problems with the aircraft, including continued difficulties with the helmet-mounted display system involving latency of images and poor resolution in its night-vision capability, as well as various structural 'hot spots', such as areas on the bulkhead and root rib that indicate a shorter-than-expected fatigue life for some components. This report also detailed problems with the C-model's arresting hook system. Gilmore's report also noted all of these deficiencies.
In response, a Lockheed Martin spokeswoman said on 13 January that "individual technical issues cited in the report are known issues that have engineering solutions either identified, in work or in flight-test".
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