|
 Nearly two decades and a $166 billion jump in projected costs
later, the world's largest arms program was poised for a
high-profile international debut at two British air shows when the
Pratt & Whitney engine on one of the jets broke apart and caught
fire during a takeoff from a Florida air base.
The incident has grounded the existing fleet of 97 F-35 jets and
triggered a fresh wave of criticism about the costly new warplane,
although U.S. and British officials are underscoring their continued
commitment to the program, which now has a revised price tag of
$398.6 billion.
The latest engine issue came weeks after an in-flight oil leak that
sparked a brief grounding in June, but U.S. officials remain hopeful
the jet will at least fly at the bigger of the two UK events - the
Farnborough Airshow that starts on July 14.
Lockheed‘s F-35 program manager Lorraine Martin told reporters that
the planes would miss the first day of the Royal International Air
Tattoo air show, but could still arrive in time to fly at the event,
which continues through July 12. She said Lockheed had spare parts
on hand at the air field in case they were needed.
British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond on Wednesday said the F-35
may miss the Air Tattoo given the grounding order, but said he was
optimistic that the plane would fly at Farnborough.
It would be a huge embarrassment if it misses that show too, and
could undermine export interest in the jet just as several countries
including Canada and Denmark, both of which helped fund development
of the jet, are weighing F-35 orders.
DEVELOPMENTAL TESTING
With three different models, supersonic speed and cutting-edge
electronics, the F-35 was designed as a multi-service,
multi-national program to lower development and production costs.
Yet early technical challenges drove the cost of the program nearly
70 percent over initial estimates.
Pentagon officials say the F-35 is finally making progress after
several major restructurings and years of delays, but also say the
jet still has 40 percent of developmental testing to go.
The sheer complexity and scale of the program, which involves three
U.S. military services and 9 other countries that have placed firm
orders, also mean that grounding and technical issues have a far
wider impact than on a single-service weapon.
Lockheed is developing and building three models of the F-35 for the
U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, and a growing number of
countries.
Analysts say the latest technical issue underscores the danger of
starting production of a new weapons system before all testing is
finished, a practice known as "concurrency".
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's chief arms buyer, has called that
approach "acquisition malpractice", and is putting in place reforms
to avoid similar problems on other weapons programs.
The Pentagon recently lowered its estimate for the cost of
concurrency - or retrofitting existing F-35 jets to correct design
problems - but officials warn that new issues can always crop up,
such as the June 23 incident in Florida.
"Engineering discoveries are a normal part of this and every other
aircraft development program. Some of them are relatively
insignificant, and others more concerning, but with each test event
and every training mission we are learning and constantly
improving," said U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher
Bogdan, who runs the Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office.
[to top of second column]
|
The F-35 program is still in development, but the airplanes are
already being used for training and some operations, and the Marine
Corps plans to start using them in combat from July 2015. Marine
Lieutenant General Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation,
reiterated those plans in a statement to Reuters, noting that the
jet's capabilities would "revolutionize the way the Marine Corps
projects power from the sea and the shore".
But he said the Marine Corps would not declare an "initial operating
capability", or IOC, next year if any capability defined in its
requirements was not delivered.
Bogdan provided no details on the investigation into the engine
incident, but said he was confident in the plane's design and
operation given its "increased maturity and stability".
He said everyone involved in the F-35 program was working "day and
night" to try to understand the cause of the engine failure, and
safety remained the program's top priority.
A strictly controlled U.S. Air Force investigation into the engine
failure continues, which means U.S. government and industry
officials are more tight-lipped than ever.
But questions are emerging about quality control issues at Pratt,
which faced problems with fuel lines last year.
"This could have serious consequences for Pratt unless they can say
without a doubt why this part failed, and can convince the Joint
Program Office that this was a one-off thing," said one defense
official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The program's complex structure - with jets already owned by three
different military services and two foreign countries - has also
revealed the need to better coordinate any moves by "airworthiness"
authorities to suspend flights.
In this case, the Air Force launched its standard safety
investigation procedures after the engine incident, quarantining the
jet and locking out the other services, as per its protocols. But
that left many questions unanswered for the other military services
and global partners on the program.
The Pentagon is expected to revamp the process to ensure better
coordination in the future, said multiple sources familiar with the
program.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Jason Neely)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
