{"id":176646,"date":"2020-04-26T18:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T23:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/04\/26\/more-mistake-jet-follies\/"},"modified":"2020-04-26T18:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-26T23:40:00","slug":"more-mistake-jet-follies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/04\/26\/more-mistake-jet-follies\/","title":{"rendered":"More Mistake Jet Follies"},"content":{"rendered":"
It appears that the Pentagon’s solution to problems with the F-35 is to declare that it’s not really a problem, or at least not a serious problem.<\/div>\n

Cases in point, the F-35 will literally melt the back of the plane if it spends more than about a minute at supersonic speed<\/a>, and the response is to remove this as a requirement:<\/p>\n

An issue that risks damage to the F-35\u2019s tail section<\/a> if the aircraft needs to maintain supersonic speeds is not worth fixing and will instead be addressed by changing the operating parameters, the F-35 Joint Program Office told Defense News in a statement Friday. <\/p>\n

The deficiency, first reported by Defense News in 2019<\/a>, means that at extremely high altitudes, the U.S. Navy\u2019s and Marine Corps\u2019 versions of the F-35 jet can only fly at supersonic speeds for short bursts of time before there is a risk of structural damage and loss of stealth capability. <\/p>\n

The problem may make it impossible for the Navy\u2019s F-35C to conduct supersonic intercepts. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis issue was closed on December 17, 2019 with no further actions and concurrence from the U.S. services,\u201d the F-35 JPO statement read. \u201cThe [deficiency report] was closed under the category of \u2018no plan to correct,\u2019 which is used by the F-35 team when the operator value provided by a complete fix does not justify the estimated cost of that fix.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is what happens when you have a deeply corrupt and completely dysfunctional acquisition process.<\/p>\n

But wait, there’s more<\/a>: <\/p>\n

The F-35 Joint Program Office has put in place stopgap fixes for five key technical flaws plaguing America\u2019s top-end fighter jet, but the problems have not been completely eliminated. <\/p>\n

Last June, Defense News reported exclusive details about 13 major technical issues<\/a>, known as category 1 deficiencies, impacting the F-35. The JPO has since quietly downgraded five of those issues to the lesser category 2. <\/p>\n

A category 1 deficiency is defined as<\/a> a shortfall that could cause death, severe injury or illness; could cause loss or damage to the aircraft or its equipment; critically restricts the operator\u2019s ability to be ready for combat; prevents the jet from performing well enough to accomplish primary or secondary missions; results in a work stoppage at the production line; or blocks mission-critical test points. <\/p>\n

In comparison, a category 2 deficiency is of lesser concern \u2014 something that requires monitoring, but not something that should impact operations. <\/p>\n

But downgrading the category doesn\u2019t mean the problems are solved, said Dan Grazier, who tracks military issues for the Project on Government Oversight. <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026 <\/p>\n

The ALIS sovereign data transfer solution does not meet information assurance requirements.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

Incorrect inventory data for complex assemblies continues to result in grounding conditions.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

The F-35B and F-35C experienced incongruous lateral and longitudinal control response above a 20-degree angle of attack.<\/p>\n

One of the most eye-opening issues identified in the initial report was that the F-35B and F-35C models used by the Marine Corps and Navy become difficult to control when operating above a 20-degree angle of attack \u2014 which would be seen in the extreme maneuvers a pilot might use in a dogfight or while avoiding a missile.<\/p>\n

Pilots reported the aircraft experiencing unpredictable changes in pitch, as well as erratic yaw and rolling motions when coming in at that angle of attack<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

There were unanticipated thrust limits in jetborne flight on hot days.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That last one could cause the lost of an aircraft executing a vertical landing.<\/p>\n

You can get a good summary from POGO<\/a>, but the bottom line is that the aircraft is not combat ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It appears that the Pentagon’s solution to problems with the F-35 is to declare that it’s not really a problem, or at least not a serious problem. Cases in point, the F-35 will literally melt the back of the plane if it spends more than about a minute at supersonic speed, and the response is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[384,381,588],"class_list":["post-176646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-aviation","tag-defense-procurement","tag-fail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}