Dunford Mulls F-35B IOC Decision; 4 Bs Take Out 9 Attackers

[F-22Raptor]

WASHINGTON: During the Marine’s recent operational readiness test of the F-35B, four of the Marine aircraft went up against nine enemy aircraft.

“It went very poorly for the bad guys,” Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, told me this afternoon. Davis provided few details, saying they were classified, He did say that the F-35s faced a threat that “we have never put an F-16 or a Harrier against.” The F-35Bs, he said, did a “great job.”

I asked Davis about the recent news that the F-35A did not fare that well in dogfight conditions against an F-16. “I love the F-16. It was a great airplane. Still is pretty good, but i would not want to be in a fight against an F-35.”

In a clear message to A-10 advocates, Davis said the F-35B performed extremely well at Close Air Support missions using Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and laster-guided GBU-12s. The aircraft does need a cannon, he conceded, for some missions. The gun is currently undergoing its first tests mounted on an aircraft but it won’t be deployed on the plane until 2017 when the Block 3F software is installed. But Davis was unequivocal in his enthusiasm for the aircraft. “No airplane in the world will be able to touch this jet at Close Air Support,” he told reporters.

Davis said he had made his recommendation about the F-35B’s Initial Operating Capabilitity to Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford: “He’s got all the paperwork now and he’s going through it.” Breaking D readers will remember that Dunford has been nominated to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and has been a bit busy recently dealing with nomination hearings and such.

Davis said early models of the F-35B are currently maintaining a 60 percent to 65 percent mission readiness rate, something he expects to rise substantially as more newer planes come to the line. He noted a training squadron with newer planes was “getting 70 to 75 percent rates the other day.” The overall goal is 80 percent later in the program.

The Marines plan to buy 353 F-35Bs and Davis said he has heard absolutely nothing to convince him that number should be cut. It seems pretty certain he has recommended to Dunford that IOC be approved, but, as he put it, that’s the commandant’s decision.

Dunford Mulls F-35B IOC Decision; 4 Bs Take Out 9 Attackers « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary

 

[F-22Raptor]

WASHINGTON — The US Marine Corps finished tests and filled out the paperwork needed to turn the F-35 joint strike fighter into an operational aircraft.

Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy commandant for Marine aviation, told reporters Monday that once Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joe Dunford signs off on the paperwork, the F-35B fleet will have achieved initial operational capability (IOC), becoming the first model of the joint strike fighter to become operational.

"[Dunford has] got all the paperwork now. He's going through all that," Davis said. "I would say 'soon' but… he and I talked. He's a busy guy and he's working his way through that right now. I'll tell you we met all of the IOC criteria."

Getting Dunford's signature may take longer than it normally would, as he is currently up for nomination as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is possible the decision could slip to Dunford's nominated successor, Lt. Gen. Robert Neller, although that would be surprising.

Once IOC is declared on the jump-jet variant, the F-35B will be deployable by the Marines in the same manner as any other military aircraft. The first F-35B deployment is scheduled to take place in 2017, with the unit known as VMFA-121 moving to Iwakuni, Japan.

However, if national security objectives required it, Davis said, the planes could be deployed anywhere in the world post IOC. Which is to say, the F-35 will no longer be a paper airplane, but rather one that is part of the overall US military aviation arsenal.

It is a milestone for an F-35 program which suffered years of delays and cost overruns, having been branded as the "trillion dollar plane" and "the plane that ate the Pentagon" by critics.

Although the jets will be operational, they are not in their final form. More capability, including the use of the plane's gun, will come down the line with software update 3F, which will drop in 2017.

One issue revolves around how the F-35 does data fusion between ships. The fighter is designed to gather information through its sensor suites and share it with other F-35s in the area, with up to four jets gathering situational awareness data and creating a joint operational picture for the pilots.

Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, the F-35 program head, revealed in March that during testing, the F-35 system had trouble identifying if the target was one target or multiple, something he said was a result of each plane looking at the target from a slightly different angle or using different sensors.

For now, Davis said, the Marines have changed their concept of operations as a workaround. Instead of fusing the data between the four planes, the jets will be paired off, in what Davis referred to as a "2+2" configuration.

Davis said prime contractor Lockheed Martin is "getting closer" on fixing the issue. Asked for a timeframe, he was firm: "we demand it be fixed for 3F."

Asked about concerns with the F-35 is, Davis highlighted the need to keep the fighters rolling off Lockheed's Fort Worth, Texas plant.

"We do need to build airplanes, and start producing them to make sure we have the aircraft in numbers to replace our legacy platforms, and frankly bring this capability to our warfighters," he said.

That's notable given that Dunford wrote in response to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee indicated that, for the first time in years, the Pentagon is weighing whether 2,443 F-35s is the right size buy.

"Given the evolving defense strategy and the latest Defense Planning Guidance, we are presently taking the newest strategic foundation and analyzing whether 2,443 aircraft is the correct number," Dunford wrote.

Asked if the Pentagon should look at buying less F-35s, Davis was blunt: "No."

"Right now I can't imagine wanting to cut back on the buy, because right now I'm replacing a greater number of F-18s, Harriers and Prowlers," Davis said. "Obviously ill defer to the commandant and do what he says. He and I have not talked about reducing the number of F-35s, so I'd have to go back and talk to him about that."

The F-35A conventional take-off and landing model will go operational for the Air Force in the fall of 2016. The carrier variant F-35C, which will be used both by the Navy and Marines, is scheduled to go operational in 2018, with a more up-to-date software package.

Marines File Paperwork for F-35 IOC; Sign-Off 'Soon'

 

[Neptune]

@500 vol2

 

[F-22Raptor]

More info....

The U.S. Marine Corps is expected to announce the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is ready to fly initial operations in the near future, a general said.

During a conference call with reporters on Monday afternoon, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the service's deputy commandant for aviation, said the F-35B jump-jet version of the Lockheed Martin Corp.-made plane may "soon" reach the milestone, known as initial operational capability in military parlance.

"I would say soon, but … I'm not going to rush Gen. Dunford," Davis said, referring to Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford, in response to a reporter who asked when a decision might be made. "Bottom line, he and I talked and he's a busy guy and he's working his way through that right now. But I'll tell you, we met all of our IOC criteria."

The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons acquisition program, estimated to cost $391 billion to purchase 2,457 aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. The Corps plans to begin operational flights this year -- albeit with a less lethal version of the aircraft -- followed by the Air Force in 2016 and the Navy in 2019.

IMPRESSIVE' KILL RATES

The Corps plans to buy a total of 420 of the fifth-generation stealth fighters, including 353 F-35Bs, the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) versions that fly like a plane and land like a helicopter, and 67 F-35C variants designed for use aboard aircraft carriers, the general said.

During a recent operational readiness inspection, the aircraft -- armed with the GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition and laser-guided GBU-12 Paveway II bombs -- performed well in such missions as armed reconnaissance, interdiction, opposed strike and close air support, Davis said.

"The exchange rates and the kill rates that we had against the adversary aircraft in a multi-mission profile was very, very impressive," he said. "They did very, very well -- great accuracy with the hits."

Indeed, Davis said he was surprised how the planes were able to execute a high-threat scenario for the armed reconnaissance sortie.

"We would never put a legacy platform -- an F/A-18 or a Harrier -- in that kind of threat environment, but these guys went and did it," he said.

For example, during the U.S.-led attack against Iraq in 1989, "going after those Scuds [ballistic missiles] in Desert Storm -- that was a high-profile target that we had to address first for strategic regions and if they had been defended by some high-end SAMs [surface-to-air missiles], it would have been probably prohibitive for us to go after them like we did," he said. "Now, you've got a radar and a sensor that would basically allow you to find those things a heck of a lot better and do that in a high-threat environment."

'MAKE DO'

Even so, Davis acknowledged that Marines will have to "make do" with a less lethal version of the airplane. For example, the early operational F-35Bs won't include a new night-vision helmet, Small Diameter Bomb II or GAU-22/A four-barrel 25mm Gatling gun -- or the ability to stream video or simultaneously fuse sensor data from four aircraft.

"I'd like to have full four-ship fusion, but I'll make do with a two-plus-two," he said, referring to a workaround in which sensor data from two aircraft are shared with another pair of aircraft via a Link 16 tactical data connection.

Davis said the workaround performed well in operational scenarios and that existing fourth-generation planes in the fleet don't have any so-called sensor fusion. He also said pilots convinced him that they could track targets at night using improved panels on the cockpit screen.

"I would have liked to have had the full four-ship fusion and the NVG full compatibility of the helmet, but I'll wait on that," he said. Many of the weapons improvements will be included as part of a future software upgrade, known as 3F, which is slated for fully operational F-35Bs in late 2017.

READY FOR DOGFIGHTS

Davis also defended the aircraft from criticisms that it can't outperform an F-16 in a dogfight or A-10 in providing close air support to ground troops. "I love the F-16, I think it's a great airplane," he said. "I would not want to be in a fight with an F-35B against an F-16."

While the exchange rates from the operational readiness inspection are classified, he said, "We put a four-ship up against nine bad guys. It didn't go so well for the bad guys. It went poorly for the bad guys, all of them."

Davis acknowledged the F-35B isn't slated to receive its cannon until 2017. But he said the plane was able to perform close air support missions using the GPS and laser-guided bombs. "We used the kind of profiles we're using out there in Syria and they did very, very well," he said. "And unlike in Syria, we actually had some high-threat conditions out there, as well, where they did the close air support, did it very effectively in a medium- and a high-threat scenario.

"I am very confident that I could send them pretty much to pretty much anyplace in the world to employ this weapon systems in a close air support environment," he added. "My Marines would get the support on the ground from this airplane and I don't need a big support package to go in and clear the airspace for them. They'll be able to go in as a two-ship or a four-ship and be able to do the CAS we need to do without a big support package -- that is unprecedented."

Marine Corps Will 'Soon' Announce F-35 Ready for Initial Operations | Military.com

 

[C130]

I was against the F-35. a good case of pessimistic , but I think things can work out.

one thing I don't like about the F-35 is how small it's weapons bays are it can't carry much without loading weapons on the wings

but I think you can solve this problem with a stealth drone like X-47B/C teaming up with the F-35

for instance you load like 6 or so AIM-120D into the X-47 and it becomes a missile truck in the sky.

the F-35 and E-2D can guide the AIM-120D to the target fire from a drone

 

[Fenrir]

I was against the F-35. a good case of pessimistic , but I think things can work out.

Bad news is good press - we don't tend to hear about the good of the F-35 program, so there's a lot of bias in how it's portrayed to the public. All military programs, especially those in the US, are criticize - the F-16 was once called "lawn dart" since it crashed too much; some wanted to cancel the F/A-18 program because its landing gear and tailhook were cracking.

Early in the B-52 program avionics didn't work, the J57 engine was unreliable, the weight of the B-52 cracked runways, a few crashed too.

How'd that program work out?

The F-35 will be fine and it has a lot of room to grow. It's got some teething issues, but nothing too serious or damning to the program. The pessimism is sustained by bad press, but there is a lot going right with the program too.

*this doesn't relate to what I just said, I really just like this Gif

We think it's good enough to buy 52:

Norway Paves The Way For F-35 Acquisition | Defense content from Aviation Week

22 are currently ordered, AM-1 is under construction and will undergo flight testing this year.

 

[500]

An initial squadron of 10 Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters met all the requirements for a declaration of combat readiness during a recent review, the US Marine Corps' (USMC's) top aviator told reporters on 27 July.

USMC commandant General Joseph Dunford will likely make a final decision about F-35B initial operational capability (IOC) "soon", said Lieutenant General Jon Davis. Lt Gen Davis said results of this month's F-35B operational readiness review were positive and the commandant is now completing the final paperwork for IOC.

Once IOC is declared, the F-35B will be deployable anywhere in the world. The first official F-35B deployment is scheduled for 2017; the VMFA-121 is to be based in Iwakuni, Japan. However, following IOC the aircraft could be sent into combat wherever it is needed.

USMC expects F-35B IOC 'soon' - IHS Jane's 360

aaaaa cant wait

 

[UKBengali]

So, just because the producer says an aircraft is good then it must be good.

 

[Fenrir]

So, just because the producer says an aircraft is good then it must be good.

The producer, the pilots, the buyers, those who audit the program... basically everyone who isn't you.

The only criticism has been cost:

Norway says F-35 jet on track; keeping eye on costs

 

[UKBengali]

The producer, the pilots, the buyers, those who audit the program... basically everyone who isn't you.

Apart from the producer(+ those with self interest like pilots and auditors), the buyers have NO other choice for a 5th generation fighter currently.

 

[C130]

the future right here.

 

[gambit]

So, just because the producer says an aircraft is good then it must be good.

Hey...You believe whatever the Chinese say...

 

[MastanKhan]

So, just because the producer says an aircraft is good then it must be good.

Hi,

As you are making these comments---why don't you post your back ground and experience so that we can understand where you are coming from and how to answer you.

 

[KAL-EL]

Hey...You believe whatever the Chinese say...

From what I've observed, he basically is negative towards any and all tech (military or otherwise) if it originates from the US. Where as anything china does he acts like it's the best thing since sliced bread.

One might think by looking at a sampling of his various posts that the US was just some 3rd rate military power and China was a hyper-power 50 years more advanced then US..

 

[gambit]

From what I've observed, he basically is negative towards any and all tech (military or otherwise) if it originates from the US. Where as anything china does he acts like it's the best thing since sliced bread.

One might think by looking at a sampling of his various posts that the US was just some 3rd rate military power and China was a hyper-power 50 years more advanced then US..

I hope more and more believes like he does.