Tag: F-35

Pratt & Whitney Moves Ahead on F-35 ECU Program

Aviation Week reports that Pratt & Whitney now “has 400 engineers working on a major upgrade for the F135 engine that powers the Lockheed Martin F-35, as the company waits for congressional approval of the formal program go-ahead in fiscal 2024.” The team assigned “to the Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) program has been funded with previous congressional add-ons to the fiscal 2023 budget that now total $180 million in awarded contracts, including a $66 million award announced on July 11, says Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt’s military engines business.” The awards are funding work “on early architecture studies and engineering preparation for the preliminary design review, Albertelli said.” Both efforts have been “launched as Congress considers the Pentagon’s request to launch full development of the ECU program in fiscal 2024.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

General Says F-35 Supply Chain Too Risky for Future War

Defense News reports that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter “will need a more resilient supply chain to ensure the military can keep it flying in a future, highly contested war, the Air Force officer in charge of the program said Monday.” Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the program executive officer, said during a panel discussion at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space conference being held this week in National Harbor, Maryland, that the F-35 program was created with a “just in time” supply chain, which means that parts are designed to arrive when needed, with little stockpile of inventory. Schmidt said that sort of thinking works in the private sector, but in a future war, it could lead to a catastrophe. He added, “When you have that [just-in-time] mentality, a hiccup in the supply chain, whether it be a strike … or a quality issue, becomes your single point of failure. We need to look at, what does ‘right’ look like in the future, to give us more resilience in a combat environment.”
Full Story (Defense News)

USAF F-35As Will See Engine Upgrades Instead of New Adaptive Engines

Aviation Week reports that the US Air Force “has decided not to reengine its Lockheed Martin F-35s, ending a potential competition between GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney to equip the fleet with a new powerplant.” Its fiscal 2024 budget request “ends funding for the Adaptive Engine Transition Program,” which was a competition between GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney to build a new adaptive engine for the F-35 fighter platform.
More Info (Aviation Week)

DOD Resumes Acceptance of F-35s from Lockheed Martin

FlightGlobal reports that on March 14, the F-35 Joint Program Office said that the Defense Department has “resumed acceptance of F-35 aircraft from Lockheed [Martin].” Breaking Defense reports JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere said, “The Defense Contract Management Agency and F-35 Joint Program Office resumed acceptance of F-35 aircraft today from Lockheed Martin and are currently working with the U.S. services, partner nations and foreign military sales customers on the movement of aircraft to their operational units. … Prior to acceptance, the aircraft passed extensive technical and flight worthy checks ensuring their readiness for operational use.” Air Force Lt. Gen Mike Schmidt, the program executive officer for the JPO, said in a statement that the “Government and industry team worked tirelessly on this effort and their work demonstrates true professionalism and a devotion to accomplish complex missions with stringent ingenuity. The safety of our warfighters is always our highest priority.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal) | More Info (Breaking Defense)

GE Aerospace Continues to Urge USAF to Procure New Powerplant for F-35

FlightGlobal reports, “GE Aerospace is continuing to press the US Air Force (USAF) to procure a new powerplant for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fifth-generation fighter, rather than opting to perform core upgrades on the existing F-35 powerplant.” GE Aerospace claims that its XA100 adaptive-cycle engine, built for the F-35 under the USAF’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program, provides “transformational benefits” in range, thrust, acceleration and fuel consumption. GE Edison Works General Manager David Tweedie said on February 16, “We really think AETP clearly is the solution. And we are ready to meet that challenge and continue to move forward.” According to FlightGlobal, this “push comes ahead of the expected release in March of President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal – a document that could reveal the Pentagon’s plans for addressing shortfalls with the F-35’s existing, P&W-made F135 powerplant.”
More Info (FlightGlobal)

DOD May Allow F-35 Deliveries to Resume Within Weeks

Aviation Week reported that the “U.S. Defense Department may allow Lockheed Martin F-35 deliveries to resume within weeks, pending the outcome of legal, security and airworthiness reviews launched after the discovery of a Chinese supplier of a metal alloy in one component.” The Hill reported that Under Secretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment William LaPlante “said an investigation is underway and ‘moving quickly’ to look into how an alloy made in China ended up in magnets in the turbomachine pumps of the Lockheed Martin-produced F-35.” According to The Hill, “both the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed have insisted that the Chinese-sourced alloy was magnetized in the United States and does not give any other country access to sensitive information, adding that there are no safety issues.” LaPlante told reporters, “They’re looking at two things – one, impact on security, if any, and impact on air worthiness or safety, if any. … Right now, so far it doesn’t appear to be either of them.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Full Story (The Hill)

Navy Orders “Safety Pause” for Aircraft Following String of Crashes

The Washington Post reports the US Naval Air Forces “has ordered a one-day ‘safety pause’ for its aircraft after a string of crashes in California this month led to the deaths of a Navy pilot and five Marines.” The pause, which will take effect Monday, will “affect all Navy aviation units that are not deployed, the Naval Air Forces said Saturday in a news release.” The release said, “As a result of recent crashes involving U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, Commander, Naval Air Forces has directed all non-deployed Navy aviation units to conduct a safety pause on June 13 in order to review risk-management practices and conduct training on threat and error-management processes.”
Full Story (Washington Post)