Defense News:
USAF May Shift F-35 In-service Date
ORLANDO, Fla. - Just weeks after the Pentagon announced a restructuring of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the U.S. Air Force is now re-evaluating when the plane will be considered ready for service, Air Combat Command chief Gen. William Fraser said Feb. 19. "We're taking a look at and we're re-evaluating our [initial operating capability] date and what our definition of that is," Fraser told reporters at an Air Force Association-sponsored conference here.
The general said that the restructuring, which was announced Feb. 1 by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will extend the plane's system design and development (SDD) phase until 2015. That's two years after the air service had planned to begin operating the aircraft. "Whenever there are adjustments in any program, you've got to go back and take a look at if all the requirements are going to be met by timeframe X or Y," said Fraser.
The general said the service is also looking at how that extension will affect the number of aircraft, trained aircrew and spare parts the service has available by 2013. "The IOC focus is on combat capability, not on a date," he said.
Earlier this week, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said the SDD phase of the program would be one year behind schedule. And yesterday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told reporters that the F-35 program is likely to breach Nunn-McCurdy limits on per-unit cost growth, which would likely require a formal notice to Congress.
U.S. Navy Takes Aim at 'Fighter Gap'
Each U.S. Navy strike fighter squadron will lose some of its 10 or 12 aircraft between deployments - one of several details emerging about the service's plans to ease an upcoming shortage of strike fighters.
The so-called fighter gap is coming as older F/A-18 A through D-model Hornet aircraft reach the end of their operational lives, not enough new E and F Strike Fighters are built to replace them and production of the later F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) lags. In a draft version of an upcoming statement to Congress obtained by Defense News, Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, writes that the reduction in squadron size to "the minimum required" will take place during "non-deployed phases."
Navy Hornet squadrons already have been reduced to 10 aircraft per squadron. Super Hornet squadrons flying E and F models generally have 12 aircraft each. The service will accelerate the transition of five F/A-18C squadrons to E or F models using available Super Hornets, the draft statement said, "and will transition two additional legacy squadrons using Super Horner attrition reserve aircraft." Navy officials would not comment on the impact of using spare aircraft to fill out operational squadrons. "We will not discuss information in a draft," said Roughead spokesman Cmdr. Charlie Brown.
The fighter gap, forecast to peak around 2016, has been a matter of debate for a couple years, and was a major focus for requirements and budget planners over the past year. Planners, according to Navy Undersecretary Bob Work, had "pretty much eliminated any perceived strike fighter shortfall" in developing a new aviation procurement plan. But a Pentagon restructuring of the JSF program announced Feb. 1 pushed back the service entry dates for the plane, which is being built in separate versions for the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. The move reopened the gap issue for the Navy.
"We felt very comfortable that we had a good, solid plan prior to the JSF restructuring," Work said Feb. 2. "And the JSF restructuring will cause us to look at it one more time."....