Pentagon report cites "lack of maturity" of Lockheed F-35 jetBy Andrea Shalal-Esa | Reuters – 6 hrs ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp's's new F-35 fighter jet has
completed over a third of its planned flight tests, but it Still faces problems
with the helmet needed to fly the plane, software development and weapons
integration, according to a report by the Pentagon's chief weapons tester.
The 18-page report, sent to Congress on Friday, included a detailed account of
those issues and others, which it said underscored the "lack of maturity" of the
$396 billion weapons program, the Pentagon's most expensive ever.
The program exceeded the number of flight tests and specific system tests
planned for 2012 but lagged in some areas due to unresolved problems and newly
discovered issues, the report said. It said Lockheed did not accomplish all the
tests planned for 2012, but boosted the year's total of specific tests by
bringing forward some evaluations planned in later years.
The program has already completed over 20,000 tests, but has 39,579 more such
tests.
The report highlighted the continued growing pains of the ambitious Lockheed
fighter program, which began in 2001 and has been restructured three times in
recent years to slow down production and allow more progress on the development
program.
Lockheed said the F-35 program continued to show progress on flight test,
software development and other aspects of the reworked plan, and was
demonstrating exceptional stability -- more than any other legacy aircraft
development program.
"It's more important to look at the overall plan rather than year by year
totals," Lockheed spokesman Michael Rein said in an emailed statement. "While we
remain diligent to ensure deferred test objectives are ultimately completed, the
aggregate plan remains on track."
Lockheed is building three different models of the F-35 fighter jet for the U.S.
military and eight countries that helped pay for its development: Britain,
Canada, Italy, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia and Norway.
The Pentagon plans to buy 2,443 of the warplanes in coming decades, although
many analysts believe U.S. budget constraints and deficits will eventually
reduce that overall number.
"The lag in accomplishing the intended 2012 flight testing content defers
testing to following years, and in the meantime, will contribute to the program
delivering less capability in the production aircraft in the near term," said
the report prepared by Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's director of operational
test and evaluation.
Gilmore said the program remained saddled by a high level of concurrency or
overlap between development, production and testing. The Pentagon planned that
overlap from the start, but its top weapons buyer, Frank Kendall, has said that
in retrospect, that approach amounted to "acquisition malpractice."
CONDUCTING FLIGHT TESTS
The report said the program conducted 1,092 flight tests in 2012, 18 percent
more than the 927 flight tests planned, running more tests than scheduled for
the Marine Corps B-model and the Navy's C-model or carrier variant.
But it fell short of the flight tests planned for the Air Force's conventional
takeoff A-model. That model completed 30 percent less test points than planned
due to operating limits on the plane and problems with the weapon bay doors, it
said.
It said flight tests were also limited by problems with the air refueling
system, which led to restrictions on all A-model planes and required new
instrumentation to isolate the cause.
The plane's stealthy coatings - which make it nearly invisible to enemy radars -
were also peeling off on horizontal tail surfaces due to higher-than-expected
temperatures during high-speed, high-altitude flights, the report said.
The Marine Corps version of the plane flew more than planned but lagged its
target for test points by 49 percent due to issues with the weapon bay doors and
an engine lift fan needed for that B-model's vertical landings, the report said.
The lift fan is built by Rolls Royce, a supplier to the engine maker, Pratt &
Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp.
The weight of the new plane remained fairly steady over the past year, and the
mean time between critical failures increased, but the plane's performance
remained below the level expected for this point in the program, the report
said.
The report also cited continuing delays with Lockheed's delivery of software for
the new fighter, noting that software packages needed to support flight test
were delayed or not complete when delivered.
It said the complex helmet that integrates data for the pilot from all the
plane's sensors was still facing issues, as is a computerized logistics system.
Weapons integration testing was delayed by a number of factors, including
problems with the performance of a radar system and in tracking targets.
Durability testing of the Marine's B-model had to be halted in December after
multiple cracks were found on the underside of the plane's fuselage, the report
said.
It also cited problems with the ability of the Navy's C-model to transfer video
and imagery data to ships, and said one live-fire test revealed a potentially
serious problem with the coolant system, which was now being addressed.
More work was also needed on a system aimed at protecting the plane from fuel
tank explosions caused by lightning, the report concluded, noting that flight
operations were currently banned within 25 miles of known lightning conditions.
No immediate comment was available from the Pentagon's F-35 program office.
Rapport hier te downloaden:
http://timemilitary.files(...)12-annual-report.pdf
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