thought you guys might find this interesting.............
F-35 Follow-On Takes Shape
ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON--The seven F-35s on board set a dizzying pace, catapulting off the ship, circling around and coming in for a landing every few minutes.
After catching the arresting gear wire with a newly redesigned tailhook and lurching to a sudden stop, each jet maneuvers around the flight deck and back into position for a new launch.
Fresh off the flight line, Navy pilots rave about the F-35's advanced sensors, easy handling and ability to land perfectly on a fast-moving carrier essentially by itself.
It is an impressive display that shows just how far the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program has come since a critical cost breach and complete restructuring in 2010. Although the program is still tackling technological problems with the jet's ejection seat, software, logistics system and more, none of these challenges are on display here: the Navy pilots nailed 118 out of 118 arrested landings, using the automatic Delta Flight Path control system to catch the targeted third cable on almost every attempt. While the Navy's F-35C carrier variant won't be ready for war until 2018, commanders say they are prepared to send the U.S. Air Force F-35As and U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs into combat today. But as the threat evolves, how will the JSF stay relevant over its planned 60 years of service?
The Pentagon is already looking ahead at what's next for the fifth-generation fighter jet. The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), along with the three U.S. military services and eight international partners, is well on its way to establishing a modernization effort for the JSF, dubbed Block 4. The incremental Block 4 updates will come on a recurring cycle: a software update every two years followed by a hardware update every four. This approach will allow the F-35 to keep up with technology improvements while managing the hardware retrofits on a realistic schedule, says Diane Wathen, the JPO's director of follow-on modernization.
The stakeholders earlier this year settled on a wish list of capabilities to be included in the first two increments of Block 4, planned for fielding in 2020 and 2022. That list is currently going through the formal requirements process and is expected to be approved by the Pentagon's Joint Requirements and Oversight Council sometime this fall, Wathen says. The improvements focus on enhancing existing mission areas, including close-air support, electronic warfare, and adding or upgrading weapons capabilities, she says.
Key to the modernization effort is the addition of new and improved weapons, which will enable the F-35 fleet to pace the threat out to the end of the century. Block 4.1 will add an advanced AIM-9X variant, the dual-mode GBU-54 laser-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition and the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) C-1, which will allow the Navy to strike moving maritime targets. Initial integration of SDBII, which adds a tri-mode seeker, will be in 4.1, with full integration in 4.2.
Unique Weapon Systems
As the program moves to follow-on modernization, the international partners will start incorporating their own unique weapon systems as well, Wathen says. Norway will integrate the Joint Strike Missile, the U.K. will add the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile, and Turkey wants the indigenous precision-guided Stand-off Missile.
The program office also hopes Block 4 will improve the F-35's ability to communicate with other aircraft, particularly fourth-generation fighter jets, says Richard Meyer, the Air Force's deputy chief of the F-35 system management office division. F-35s talk to each other over the Multi-function Advanced Datalink (MADL) system, an airborne data link with low probability of intercept (LPI)/low probability of detection (LPD) characteristics that allows the jets to communicate without compromising stealth. By contrast, F-15s and F-16s communicate over Link 16; the F-35 can receive Link 16 signals, but doing so might compromise its location if operations require stealth.
Block 4 will likely include an upgraded MADL capability that will enable F-35 to talk to fourth-generation aircraft without compromising stealth, Meyer says.
A crucial change coming in Block 4 will be the JPO's effort to wrest control of the program from contractor Lockheed Martin. The government needs to own the technical baseline for the program, says Wathen, adding that the JPO is currently looking at "the appropriate places to ensure we obtain government-purposed rights." The Pentagon also wants to take the reins for the test program; right now, Lockheed has more responsibility for the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) effort.
This effort is a stark contrast to the original 2001 development contract, which was formed as a "total system performance responsibility" (TSPR) arrangement; this allowed the contractor to oversee many administrative functions that would otherwise be managed by the Defense Department, placing more risk on the government. Since then, Pentagon officials have universally declared TSPR a failure when applied to development programs like F-35, pointing to the contract structure as the root of the program's initial cost and schedule issues.
Cost Overruns
In light of the cost overruns that initially plagued the program, a prominent government watchdog has called on the Pentagon to establish the Block 4 upgrade program as its own separate acquisition program to increase oversight and transparency. The Government Accountability Office argues that this approach would allow Congress to more easily distinguish between the costs associated with the modernization effort and cost growth in the existing baseline.
But Wathen says establishing a separate program is not necessary, as funding for Block 4 and SDD are already reported separately, and would add cost and red tape to a process that is already transparent.
The JPO plans to release a request for proposals for the Block 4 developmental and integration effort in the next year or so, with a contract award expected in 2018. Lockheed will be the prime contractor.
In the meantime, the Navy is focused on the more immediate goal: preparing the F-35C for initial operating capability in 2018. The developmental test team, VX-23, will use the three-week at-sea test period to gather key data points and wring out the final Block 3F software load, which will incorporate advanced sensor fusion and critical weapons like the 25mm Gatling gun for close-air support, the short-range air-to-air AIM-9X Sidewinder missile for dogfighting and the precision-guided Small Diameter Bomb (SDBI).
Among other crucial tests, the pilots will fly the F-35 with external weapons for the first time, evaluating how the jet handles when equipped with GBU-12, GBU-31 and GBU-32 laser-guided bombs. VX-23 will also test a new software load for the $400,000 Generation III helmet, which is expected to correct issues with light leakage and "green glow" that obscures pilots' vision during night flights.
But for now, the pilots of VX-23 and the VFA-101 "Grim Reapers" squadrons are in awe of what the jet can do today.
Says Lt. Graham Cleveland of VFA-101: "I can take off, type in an altitude, type in a heading, and just let the jet go out and fly."
Stealth Fighters Could Play Key Role In Future Penetrating ISR
From the original Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance airplanes designed for the Cold War by Clarence
