(Luft) Lockheed Martin F-35 - Lightning II

[ObiBiber]

hier mal ein tendenziell positiver Bericht... der mit ein paar der o.g. Problemen aufräumt....bzw. Besserung in Aussicht stellt
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The independent program review from the OSD Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) is an annual occurrence, and the process was executed with unfettered access to information and with the full cooperation of the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO). There were no surprises in the report; all of the issues mentioned are well-known to the JPO, the U.S. services, international partners and our industry team.

Although the DOT&E report is factually accurate, it does not fully address program efforts to resolve known technical challenges and schedule risks. It is the F-35 Joint Program Office’s responsibility to find developmental issues, resolve them and execute with the time and budget we have been given. Our government and industry team has a proven track record of overcoming technical challenges discovered during developmental and operational testing and fleet operations, and delivering on program commitments. A few recent examples of issues that are resolved include the F-35C tailhook, the F135 engine rub, and F-35B STOVL Auxiliary Air Inlet door. The F-35C has now “caught the wire” more than 200 times at sea, the engine rub fix is incorporated on the production line and delivered engines are being retrofitted, and the F‑35B has performed more than 1,000 vertical landings safely.

The flight test program made significant progress in maturing the capability of the aircraft during 2015. For example, the program:

-- Completed the third F-35B sea trial aboard the USS Wasp and the second F-35C sea trial aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower for a total of five sea trials since 2013.

-- Completed six-months of climatic response testing at the McKinley Climatic Lab at Eglin AFB, Florida. During these tests, the jet operated in ranges from 120 degrees to minus 40 degrees and various ranges of humidity and weather conditions.

-- Completed F-35A 3F software high angle of attack and performance testing and continued envelope expansion for all variant 3F software.

-- Achieved aerial refueling certification with the Australian tanker (KC-30A) and Italian tanker (KC-767), including night operations.

-- Completed GAU-22 25mm ground gun fire testing and began airborne testing on the F-35A.

-- To date, completed 90 weapon separations - GBU-12, GBU-31, GBU-32, AIM-120, GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, U.K. Paveway IV, and first F-35 AIM-9X. This includes 18 for 18 successful live fires of AMRAAM, JDAM, and GBU-12s.

-- To date, completed 17 Weapon Delivery Accuracy events (GBU-12, GBU-31, GBU-32, and AIM-120)

-- To date, successfully verified F-35 low observable stealth signature 146 times with both flight test and operational jets.

aber auch

As a reminder, the F-35 program is still in its developmental phase. This is the time when issues are expected to be discovered and solutions are implemented to maximize the F-35’s capability for the warfighter. While the development program is 80 percent complete, we recognize there are known deficiencies that must be corrected and there remains the potential for future findings. Our commitment to overcoming challenges is unwavering.

das bestätigt eigentlich nur die o.g. Aussagen von mir... dass die ersten 500 Maschinen bis Ende 2018 hauptsächlich Entwicklungsmaschinen sind... die dann später ge-upgraded werden müssen

außerdem hier noch ein paar andere Probleme die bisher noch nicht so bekannt waren... jedoch auch nicht alle als kritisch gesehen werden müssen:

“There were no surprises in the report,” this is not factually true, as it contains many new issues that are not yet in the public domain. These include:
-- continuing issues with the ejection seat:
-- problems with heat management of the weapons bays;
-- vibrations, stresses and other bomb bay problems are out of the flight parameters of the AIM-120 missile and Small Diameter Bombs;
-- Mechanical rubbing between the gun motor drive and wall of the gun bay require structural modifications to the bay;
-- Fleet aircraft are limited to 3 Gs when fully fueled
-- Under certain fl ight conditions, air enters the siphon fuel transfer line and causes the pressure in the siphon fuel tank to exceed allowable limits in all variants;
-- The program completed the final weight assessment of the air vehicles for contract specification compliance; all versions are within a few hundred pounds of contractual not-to-exceed limits;
-- Refueling from tanker wing pods was prohibited due to response anomalies from the hose and reel assemblies and the F-35B aircraft with the air refueling receptacle deployed;
-- For the F-35A, the airspeed at which the weapons bay doors can be open in flight (550 knots or 1.2 Mach) is less than the maximum aircraft speed allowable (700 knots or 1.6 Mach).
-- For the F-35A, the airspeed at which countermeasures can be used is also less than the maximum speed allowable, again restricting tactical options in scenarios where F-35A pilots are conducting defensive maneuvers;
-- Although over three years have already been lost to inaction, the Program Office still does not plan to put Block 3F upgrades to the USRL on contract until late in 2016.
-- New cracks were discovered in various components of all versions;
-- Verification, Validation, and Accreditation (VV&A) activity completely stalled in 2015 and did not come close to making the necessary progress towards even the reduced set of Block 2B requirements.
-- Low availability rates are preventing the fleet of fielded operational F-35 aircraft from achieving planned, Service-funded flying hour goals.
-- A deficiency in the air vehicle’s maintenance vehicle interface (MVI)—the hardware used to upload aircraft data files—corrupted the aircraft software files during the upload process.)