Dunaway said the Navy and other services are continuing to investigate the incident, and planned to update the flight directive no later than July 16 - two days after the start of the high-profile Farnborough air show outside London.Read the entire story here.
Lockheed spokesman Michael Rein said the company still hoped the jets could be cleared to fly in time to make the show.
"We remain hopeful the grounding will be lifted in time for them to appear at Farnborough," he said.
Tea leaf reading time.
Consider. Marine Air is going to declare initial operational capability before testing is complete.
That goes against standard operating procedure AND it goes against the safety standards that the USN has shed blood and tears to get carrier/general aviation to its safest point in its history.
Consider. HQMC and Lockheed Martin are apparently pushing...and pushing hard...to get this airplane over to Europe for the air shows.
Read the entire article (yeah I'm repeating myself) but it really looks like NAVAIR is putting its foot down and saying enough! Below is a graphic of the events schedule for the show...
Dates & TimesLong story short.
Trade Days Opening Hours Flying Display
Monday 14th July 2014 1000hrs – 1600hrs 1330hrs – 1600hrs
Tuesday 15th – Thursday 17th July 2014 0930hrs – 1730hrs 1415hrs – 1645hrs
Futures Day & Enthusiasts Day Opening Hours Flying Display
Friday 18th July 2014 0930hrs – 1730hrs 1330hrs – 1700hrs
Public Weekend Opening Hours Flying Display
Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July 2014 0930hrs – 1730hrs 1230hrs – 1730hrs
For all intents and purposes they've already missed the "professional/business" part of the show. Mon and Tues are the big business days with announcements usually hitting Weds and Thurs.
This mission has been scrubbed.
They just haven't announced it yet.
They haven't found the root cause for the event, yet, and the grounding can't be lifted until it is. Meanwhile #militarymatters tweets that Kendall will provide a situational update at 11.00hrs Monday at Farnborough.
ReplyDeleteInteresting factoid that Aarom Mehta reported at Defense News regarding plans for the 3,500 mile jaunt mostly across the North Atlantic with faulty prototypes (which thankfully looks doubtful):
"A source with knowledge of the situation said the travel plan calls for the four F-35Bs to be refueled around 20 times each. The reason: for the first trip across the Atlantic, the service wants to make sure the plane is able to get to land in case of any emergency. [land??] The idea is to keep tanks above three-quarters full at all times.
"The source added that this is fairly typical of new designs making their first flight across an ocean. A spokesman for the US Marines, who operate the F-35B models that would be traveling to the UK, declined to comment in detail about the operational plan."
I just caught that: "The US Marines, who operate the F-35B models that would be traveling to the UK, declined to comment in detail about the operational plan."
DeleteI'm supposing that they turned the air blue with their non-detailed comments. At least I hope so.
Don, sounds like you are trying to make a big deal over nothing…as you usually do.
Delete"Marine Air is going to declare initial operational capability before testing is complete.
ReplyDeleteThat goes against standard operating procedure…"
Sol' claiming this is against SOP is complete bullshit. It is almost always the case that testing continues after IOC. More proof that you really don't have a clue of what you are talking about!
you're parsing my words to get to your desired outcome.
Deletethat is bullshit cowboy!
testing on airplanes continues...thats a given. but what is unusual is NAVAIR not declaring the plane ready for IOC and the service actually doing it instead. this is the first time in Marine history that an airplane hasn't completed flight testing before it is declared operational.
this has never happened before.
so how is it happening now? simple. AMOS played lawyer and found a loophole and is driving a semitrailer through it. i still doubt it will happen and you can bet that Dunford and the rest of the USMC that has common sense will be looking at some major changes after he takes office.
The Marines set the bar low for IOC, e.g. no air-worthiness certificate required, but it's doubtful that even those lowered requirements will be obtained by next year.
ReplyDeleteF-35B USMC Jul 2015 - Dec 2015 with 10 to 16 F-35Bs
For the F-35B to achieve IOC, the Marine Corps requires: One squadron of ten F-35B aircraft with Block 2B software release and required spares, ground support equipment, tools, technical publications, and a functional Autonomic Logistic Information System (ALIS) (including supporting peripherals); one squadron manned with trained/certified personnel capable of conducting autonomous operations; F-35B aircraft with the requisite performance envelope, mission systems, sensors, and weapon clearances; home base supporting infrastructure and facilities ready and capable of supporting and sustaining operations; qualifications/certifications required for deploying on F-35B compatible ships and to austere expeditionary sites; the ability to execute the TACAIR directed mission sets; and Joint Program Office and F-35 contractor procedures, processes, and infrastructure capable of sustaining operations of the IOC squadron. The Marine Corps' IOC is event driven based on the key operational and sustainment capabilities required to support operations.
I'd hate to play chess with Admiral Greenert. I'm sure he's in the loop and he's no big F-35 fan.
ReplyDeleteHere is NAVAIRINST 13034.10
FLIGHT CLEARANCE POLICY FOR AIR VEHICLES AND AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS
".. .The process ensures that technical risk has been evaluated . . .meets accepted standards. . .airworthiness must be assured . . .independent engineering assessment of airworthiness. . .all manned aircraft must be airworthy . . .etc"
The F-35 is currently 57% through its development testing, according to General Bogdan. The more rigorous tests are yet to come, and it'll take a couple more years because testing has been delayed primarily as a result of tardy software. DT won't be completed before the scheduled MC-IOC. Bogdan: "There's an awful lot of software on this program, it scares the heck out of me," said Bogdan of the jet's more than 10 million lines of software code. "It's the gorilla in the room."
ReplyDeleteAfter development testing comes operational testing, scheduled to terminate in 2019 before the Milestone C production decision.
A Marine spokesman has misstated and obscured the test situation: "We're not restricted by OT [operational test] results to declare an operational capability," Killea says. "It's not uncommon for weapons systems and aircraft systems to be fielded with deficiencies in operational test that have to be addressed."
The current plan is to deploy VMFA 121 squadron from Yuma to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan in late summer 2017. “The F-35B will be the multirole, multi-mission fifth-gen aircraft that the nation will have in [the Western Pacific], and it will be the only one in the Department of the Navy,” General Schmidle said.
ReplyDeleteThis next week is also important because on Tuesday the Senate Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee (SAC-D) will begin marking up the FY2015 budget. The SAC-D is chaired now by Senator Durbin (D-IL), who isn't as deep in the pockets of the big military-industrial spenders as previous chairmen have been. So there's that, plus we might hear more from Senator McCain, though he isn't on the SAC-D.
ReplyDelete“In some ways it’s too big to fail, but it’s a debacle. We’ve been fighting this battle of cost overruns and glitches for a number of years,” McCain reportedly told journalists this week. “It’s classic example of the military-industrial-congressional complex.” Previously McCain has called the program “one of the great national scandals.”
this just in from Reuters:
ReplyDeleteRAF FAIRFORD England (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps' new aviation chief this week said he plans to hold down "big wish lists" for upgrades to existing warplanes and helicopters so he can maximize purchases of new planes like the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet.
Lieutenant General Jon Davis, who took over as deputy commandant for aviation on July 1, is also looking for quick, innovative and inexpensive ideas on how to make each of the existing planes and helicopters more effective by ensuring they are able to share intelligence and data among themselves.
Amy Butler, AvWeek
ReplyDeleteThe rubbing between the blades in the low-pressure turbine and the cowl surrounding them put increased stress on the blades; one failed catastrophically, prompting an engine fire.
Frank Kendall, Pentagon
Kendall said the fire was caused by “rubbing between some blades of the engine and the cowl around them. ...We understand to a degree what happened here. The question is why did it happen. . .Before we put the airplane in the air, we’d like to know exactly what happened and why.”
That would be at the tail end of the low-pressure (blue) engine section as shown here with another view here. All three F-35 variants are similar in this respect.
The US does have one F-35 at Farnborough -- this mockup.
ReplyDeleteSheeze Don - you do like talking to yourself don't you.
ReplyDelete