Dal '
Daily Report' dell'
AFA ..... una serie di dichiarazioni rilasciate dal sempre ottimista (e..... come potrebbe fare a non esserlo?) generale
Cristopher Bogdan in occasione dell'annuale '
Air & Space Conference' dell'associazione .....
Bogdan: F-35A Schedule Low Risk .....
(John A. Tirpak 9/16/2014)
Achieving operational capability with the Air Force's version of the F-35 strike fighter in August 2016 is "low risk," said Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer, at AFA's Air & Space Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Monday.
Bogdan said "there is margin" in the program to accommodate delays even with the aircraft's recent engine problems and perpetually challenging software issues.
In software, the program has consumed four to five months of its six-month cushion, but Bogdan said he is not yet concerned, because the problems are being worked.
As for other well-publicized F-35 technical issues—with the pilot's helmet, the carrier landing hook, a fuel-dump problem, and ability to absorb lightning strikes—they are "in the rearview mirror," he said.
Each was a "big risk two years ago; now, not so much," he said.
Technical solutions to all of those issues are in hand and several are already nearly through flight test, said Bogdan.
He said he loses little sleep over technical issues, because "there are no problems we can't solve on this program."
He has slightly more concern about "programmatics and affordability," and the latter is tied almost entirely to keeping the buy numbers intact.
Fixing the F135 .....
(John A. Tirpak 9/16/2014)
Engineers are "very, very close" to conclusively determining the root causes of why an F135 engine started a fire in an F-35 strike fighter in June, and a decision on various fixes will likely be final by the end of October, said F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen Christopher Bogdan on Monday.
He told an audience at AFA's Air & Space Conference outside of Washington, D.C., that the fix is proceeding along several lines, and some combination of "six options" will resolve the situation.
The options revolve around fixing the problem in new-build F135 engines—by potentially changing material that engine mounts rub against—and retrofitting some 150 extant motors, by gradually letting them "burn in," by performing certain maneuvers in the aircraft, said Bogdan.
Pratt & Whitney, F135 maker, will pay for the fixes, he noted.
In an interview with Air Force Magazine after his speech, Bogdan said "I don't think it will be a massive cost," and will be driven more by touch labor than by replacing parts.
P&W military engines chief Bennett Croswell, in a separate briefing for the press on Monday, noted that "we will validate the root causes [of the incident] by the end of the month," and that of all F135 engines, only three have been found with a similar problem brewing.
The company is on a "path to a solution … in six months," he said.
He also pointed out that the F135 is performing very well otherwise, "way above the maturity curve" of any previous fighter engine.
F-35 Incentives Plan .....
(John A. Tirpak 9/16/2014)
F-35 contractors have put up some $170 million to invest in cost-reducing projects on the strike fighter under a plan that gives them high incentive to make the projects succeed, and quickly, said Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer, in a Sept. 15 interview.
He told Air Force Magazine that the contractors can get all their money back by sharing the savings with the services.
"The sooner these things pay off, the sooner they get their money back," and after that, the faster they will generate higher profits, said Bogdan.
"So it is 'win-win,' for us and for them," he said.
If the initiatives don't work out, the contractors don't get reimbursed, "so they have lots of incentive to make it work quicker," said Bogdan.
He added that "the beauty of it" for the program is that improvements negotiated in a given lot are "booked in that lot," and the government gets the savings right away, and from there on, whether the improvement works out or not.
It Was the Monster Mods .....
(John A. Tirpak 9/16/2014)
A looming issue for the F-35 program is the process of reconfiguring already constructed aircraft to the final configuration needed to achieve initial operating capability, said F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan.
"The mod program is a monster … and you can quote me," he told Air Force Magazine in a Sept. 15 interview.
The challenge is that parts suppliers are "stressed" because they're producing parts in three configurations: one version for new production; one version to sustain aircraft already bought, and another version to support modification kits.
More suppliers have been brought in, said Bogdan, and that has "done a decent job" in reducing parts shortfalls.
But to produce the 10 airplanes the Marine Corps needs in a common configuration to achieve initial operating capability by next year "requires 58 modifications" to each jet, broken down into several groups, some of which have to be performed at depot, and others that can be accomplished at their operating base, he said.
It's a "full time job" for one of the F-35 deputies to manage the modification effort, said Bogdan.
E, a proposito della citata e prossima '
Initial Operational Capability (IOC)' degli F-35B dei Marines, ecco quanto scrive
Jane's' .....
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 at MCAS Yuma has begun training to IOC-specific standards.
The USMC plans to become the first of the three US military services to declare F-35 IOC in July 2015.
L'articolo ..... "
First operational F-35B squadron on track to meet deployment standards .....
http://www.janes.com/article/43079/firs ... -standards
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