Stalled F-35 upgrades will delay next improvements, Wittman warns

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Delays to the F-35 fighter’s Technology Refresh 3 upgradeswill have a cascading effect that will hinder a major follow-on modification to the jet, a leading House lawmaker said Saturday.

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s tactical air and land forces panel, told Defense News at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, he is “very disappointed” by the repeated delays in the TR-3 upgrades.

And he warned the delayed TR-3 rollout will create further scheduling issues in the more expansive upgrade known as Block 4, he added.

TR-3 is expected to give the F-35 better displays, computer memory and processing power. But software and integration problems have kept TR-3 from working, and the government has refused to accept the newest F-35s rolling rolled off the production lines of manufacturer Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas.

TR-3 was once expected to conclude in April 2023, but that deadline has twice slipped. The Pentagon and Lockheed now say it could come between April and June 2024.

Wittman said that deadline — more than a year late — is “very problematic, especially since we have a platform that we spent a significant amount of time and money on, and one that we know isn’t up to its full capability because of software inadequacies.”

Wittman said he’s not confident the Pentagon and Lockheed will be able to deliver on the latest mid-2024 deadline for TR-3.

“I want to be positive, but call me skeptical,” he said…..

Software problems of that level do sound rather typical of extremely poor planning and probably overselling. I can imagine the situation so well: every hardware bug becomes a problem for the software to fix. Theres limited RAM/performance and all the promised functions cannot quite be managed. There are multiple teams working on very complicated components and upon testing they don't quite interact together the way each group expected......etc etc etc. Ontop of that I'd not be too surprised if developers were told "it must be ready on this date" and they perhaps struggled with the courage to say "er....probably not" because that's not the right answer.

F-35 Operational Test Force officially becomes multinational with full integration of UK & Australia. Welcome mention of Meteor specifically. UK's 17 Sqn at Edwards is only non-US unit with instrumented F-35s (with exception of the unique israeli bird).


https://www.afotec.af.mil/News/Artic...and-australia/

F-35 Operational Test Expands to Include United Kingdom and Australia

809 Naval Air Squadron will rise from the ashes tomorrow, the RAF Marham and Royal Navy Facebook pages report.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8386002b9a.png

Someone not bothering to look even 2 posts above their own…

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

What a disaster!

Scarce resources. Presumably they get jets to play with on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and every other Sunday :E

Thanks, it was a close call. We saved the universe, by me deleting my post. We were close to spiraling into the sun. We wouldn't have a Second Coming.

Edit:Though I don't think the Israelis have a test instrumented F-35.

They do, it was delivered to the IAF Flight Testing Center (FTC) at Tel-Nof air force base on November 11 2020.
Israel receives its unique experimental F-35I Adir fighter

P.S. I found it useful to have a partial quote of the article but chacun à son goût.

Perhaps an interesting detail with lots unknown of course. Let’s Talk About the One-of-a-kind F-35I Adir Test Aircraft the Israeli Air Force Has Just Received 13 Nov 2020 https://theaviationist.com/2020/11/1...just-received/
"...the EOTS (Electro-Optical Targeting System) which appears to be painted in the same color of the rest of the airframe. It is not known if this is some particular paint that lets the sensor see through it or if the sensor is entirely missing and replaced by a fairing which replicates its shape. In the latter case, we could hypothesize that the IAF will receive a custom variant of the EOTS developed by Rafael, the same developer of the Litening Advanced Targeting Pod and the RecceLite reconnaissance pod...."

Avast blocked the site, but I got the text from the wayback machine. It is different to the US/UK test aircraft, but it is for flight test of weapons and such.

The Israeli Air Force has taken delivery of a unique experimental F-35I Adir aircraft which arrived at the IAF Flight Testing Center (FTC) at Tel-Nof air force base on November 11.

Designated specifically for flight experiments, the F-35I will be instrumental in allowing the IAF to integrate certain indigenous technologies into the F-35.

“With the new addition of the ‘Adir’ to the lines of experimental aircraft in the Israeli Air Force’s FTC Squadron, we are witnessing a historic event, the magnitude of which cannot be underestimated – a meaningful corner stone in the IAF’s inauguration and development of the F-35 division”, said Brig. Gen. Oded Cohen, Commander of Tel-Nof AFB.

In the majority of the acquisitions made in cooperation with the United States, the IAF is given the opportunity to install its own electronic warfare, communications and weapons systems – all to accommodate the platforms to the relevant operational needs and requirements. For the F-35I, the situation is more complicated: “In the ‘Adir’ program, the IAF doesn’t have access to everything, and cannot fully intervene”, described Lt. Col. Y, Commander of the FTC Squadron.

“The experimental F-35I will act as the main building block for acquiring new flight capabilities, and allow for independent installation of munitions,” Lt. Col. Y. continued. “New weapons affect the aircraft in different ways. We run an entire series of tests to certify a capability, such as load testing, fluttering, and release fluency.”

In the near future, concurrent with the integration of the aircraft, American teams from “Lockheed Martin” will arrive at the squadron to deliver system instructions to its personnel. “The ‘Adir’ speaks a different language, one that we must connect with and learn to understand”, mentioned Maj. Manny and Lt. Col. Y added: “The IAF knows how to operate the “Adir”, but does not yet know how to operate an experimental model. We need to receive the relevant knowledge in order to operate the aircraft and fly it prior to the testing process”.

To date, the only experimental F-35 models manufactured were aeromechanical testing aircraft of limited operational ability or testing models meant to examine specific systems. The arriving ‘Adir’ model has advanced aeromechanical testing capabilities and full operational capabilities. Similar to other equipped testing aircraft in the FTC, we could, if necessary, convert the model to an operational one, Lt. Col. Y explained.

“The test ‘Adir’ model is the first-ever to be manufactured in the United States, per our request. Now, they will likely produce additional aircraft based on the current model for themselves,” he concluded.

With the total numbers that will be flying. Israel would have an interest in after market product sales. Their missiles, EW and an ETOS is a possibility. It's an expensive exercise for just Israeli jets.

Some should point out to Mr Jennings, its was Dark Sea Grey uppers, not blue.......:rolleyes:

This you then?

Belgians finest
 

https://www.f35.com/f35/news-and-fea...oxrtshCZPpATHg



https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0091a4561.jpeg


cheers

BeLightning video.

(LEAD) S. Korea signs contract to buy 20 additional F-35A stealth fighter jets 27 Dec 2023
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20231227002951315
"SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's arms procurement agency said Wednesday it signed a contract with the U.S. government earlier this month to buy 20 additional F-35A stealth fighter jets... Currently, the South Korean Air Force has 39 F-35A fighters after purchasing 40 F-35As from 2019 to 2022. The Air Force decided to retire an F-35A stealth jet earlier this month as it was seriously damaged by a bird strike last year...."

Spaz,
I don't think it was reported that Australia's Labor Govt (i.e. Defence spending is not in their DNA) cancelled the option of a further 28 F-35As for the RAAF.
Currently of the contract for 72, about 63 appear to have been delivered. (Ref F-16.net - The ultimate F-16, F-35 and F-22 reference)
The option for 28 was to take our total to 100, but the Super Hornet / Growler wing will now have to soldier on.

Vaguely I recall that the RAAF Supers were going to be updated for sure some time back. The GROWLERS FOR CERTAIN.
The F-16.net link has not been read by me so far. Meanwhile this is a quote about the situation from mid this year 13 Jul 2023: https://aviationweek.com/defense-spa...re-competition
"LONDON—A missing piece in Australia’s fighter inventory will be filled in the short term by extending the life of the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet for at least another decade and then afterward will be opened up for competition as a new generation of air combat aircraft are scheduled to arrive in service, the head of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) told Aerospace DAILY July 13....

...“What the fourth squadron of F-35s has become is the Super Hornet replacement, not just [a plan to buy] the fourth squadron of F-35s,” Chipman [Air Marshal Robert Chipman, the RAAF chief] said.

The F-35 remains a candidate for the Super Hornet replacement, but the RAAF will consider alternatives. In the mid-2030s, those might include collaborative combat aircraft such as the Australian-built Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, and next generation fighters produced by the U.S., a British-Japanese-Italian consortium and a French-German-Spanish group.

“We will look at the F-35 and we’re very, very comfortable and very happy with the capability of the F-35,” Chipman said. “But it would be remiss of me not to look at what else is available for us to replace our Super Hornets in the future.”"