Post by SA Hunter on Jan 15, 2017 20:53:19 GMT 10
www.adelaidenow.com.au/technology/f35-has-long-list-of-deficiencies-says-pentagon-operation-testing-and-evaluation-office/news-story/d188a16c3c48ba7409804e01b22de14c
THE controversial F-35 stealth fighter has 276 ‘deficiencies in combat performance’, a new Pentagon performance evaluation reports. And it doesn’t expect a fix any time soon.
The sales-brochure promises a plane that can do everything from dogfight to surgical-strikes. All while essentially invisible.
But it continues to fall-short in performance evaluation tests.
Australia was committed to buying 72 of Lockheed Martin’s Lightning II stealth combat jet by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2015.
But the August 2017 Initial Operational Test and Evaluation deadline represents the latest in a series of pushed-back delivery milestones.
A new Pentagon report expects it will be pushed back yet again.
The Pentagon’s Office of Operational Testing and Evaluation says only half of its long list of concerns will be addressed before the major performance milestone.
But addressing even that reduced list is appearing rushed, it says.
There are “significant, well-documented deficiencies resulting in overall ineffective operational performance ... “hundreds of which will not be adequately addressed with fixes and corrections verified with flight testing.”
Key among them are fixing the 25mm cannon which vibrates excessively and the way it is targeted by the aircraft’s ‘virtual reality’ helmet. Improvements in the flaky internal diagnostics software — the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) have also been slow to emerge. They lead a list including overheating, premature wear of components in the vertical tails and vulnerability to fire.
The aircraft’s ‘objectionable or unacceptable flying qualities’ while crossing the sound barrier as yet has no plans for a fix.
“The current schedule-driven program plans to close out testing in 2017 do not include enough time to fix these key deficiencies, nor time to verify corrections in flight test,” it adds.
“The program currently has 17 known and acknowledged failures to meet the contract specification requirements, all of which the program is reportedly planning to get relief from the SDD contract due to lack of time and funding.”
Concerns have also been raised over simulated testing of fixes, as opposed to real-life test flights. (WHAT?
?)
On the plus side, the report states progress is being made on the aircraft’s dangerous ejection seat and operational deployment aboard ships.
The US is making a trillion-dollar investment in the next-generation jet. Delivery’s now about 10-years late.
Despite it’s incomplete state, a partially operational squadron of the Marine Corps’ F-35B was deployed to Japan last week.
THE controversial F-35 stealth fighter has 276 ‘deficiencies in combat performance’, a new Pentagon performance evaluation reports. And it doesn’t expect a fix any time soon.
The sales-brochure promises a plane that can do everything from dogfight to surgical-strikes. All while essentially invisible.
But it continues to fall-short in performance evaluation tests.
Australia was committed to buying 72 of Lockheed Martin’s Lightning II stealth combat jet by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2015.
But the August 2017 Initial Operational Test and Evaluation deadline represents the latest in a series of pushed-back delivery milestones.
A new Pentagon report expects it will be pushed back yet again.
The Pentagon’s Office of Operational Testing and Evaluation says only half of its long list of concerns will be addressed before the major performance milestone.
But addressing even that reduced list is appearing rushed, it says.
There are “significant, well-documented deficiencies resulting in overall ineffective operational performance ... “hundreds of which will not be adequately addressed with fixes and corrections verified with flight testing.”
Key among them are fixing the 25mm cannon which vibrates excessively and the way it is targeted by the aircraft’s ‘virtual reality’ helmet. Improvements in the flaky internal diagnostics software — the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) have also been slow to emerge. They lead a list including overheating, premature wear of components in the vertical tails and vulnerability to fire.
The aircraft’s ‘objectionable or unacceptable flying qualities’ while crossing the sound barrier as yet has no plans for a fix.
“The current schedule-driven program plans to close out testing in 2017 do not include enough time to fix these key deficiencies, nor time to verify corrections in flight test,” it adds.
“The program currently has 17 known and acknowledged failures to meet the contract specification requirements, all of which the program is reportedly planning to get relief from the SDD contract due to lack of time and funding.”
Concerns have also been raised over simulated testing of fixes, as opposed to real-life test flights. (WHAT?
?)On the plus side, the report states progress is being made on the aircraft’s dangerous ejection seat and operational deployment aboard ships.
The US is making a trillion-dollar investment in the next-generation jet. Delivery’s now about 10-years late.
Despite it’s incomplete state, a partially operational squadron of the Marine Corps’ F-35B was deployed to Japan last week.
