FOU, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 150: Kampflyforligsnotater, fra forsvarsministeren

Forsvarsudvalget 2015-16
FOU Alm.del Bilag 150
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL RELEASED BY

THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TACTICAL AIR AND LAND FORCES

STATEMENT OF

THE HONORABLE SEAN J. STACKLEY

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY

(RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITION)

AND

LT GENERAL CHRISTOPHER C. BOGDAN

PROGRAM EXECUTIVE OFFICER, F-35

BEFORE THE

TACTICAL AIR AND LAND FORCES SUBCOMMITTEE

OF THE

HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE

F-35 PROGRAM REVIEW

MARCH 23, 2016

NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL RELEASED BY

THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TACTICAL AIR AND LAND FORCES

FOU, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 150: Kampflyforligsnotater, fra forsvarsministeren

Introduction

Chairman Turner, Ranking Member Sanchez and distinguished Members of the

Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the F-35

Lightning II.

The F-35 Lightning II is the Department of Defense`s largest acquisition program,

matched by its importance to our Nation’s security. The F-35 will form the backbone of United

States (U.S.) air combat superiority for decades to come, replacing or complementing the legacy

tactical fighter fleets of the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps with a dominant, multirole, fifth-

generation aircraft, capable of projecting U.S. power and deterring potential adversaries. For our

International Partners and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, who are participating in the

program, the F-35 will become a linchpin for future coalition operations and will help to close a

crucial capability gap that will enhance the strength of our security alliances. Accordingly,

delivering this transformational capability to front-line forces as soon as possible remains a top

priority.

II Accomplishments

The F-35 program is executing well across the entire spectrum of acquisition, to include

development and design, flight test, production, fielding and base stand-up, sustainment of

fielded aircraft, and building a global sustainment enterprise. In February 2016, the F-35

reached 50,000 flight hours, including approximately 26,000 for the F-35A, 18,000 for the F-35B

and almost 6,000 hours for the F-35C. We are pleased to report many accomplishments by the

F-35 team during the past year, since we last addressed this committee. Of note, we have seen

declaration of Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for the F-35B by the U.S. Marine Corps

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(USMC) last summer, providing our Combatant Commanders with a 5

generation strike fighter

capable of operations from expeditionary airstrips or sea-based carriers, the delivery of first

seven F-35A aircraft to Hill Air Force Base (AFB) in preparation for the U.S. Air Force’s

(USAF) declaration of IOC later this year, and delivery of Block 3F software to flight test in

support of Navy F-35C IOC in 2018. The F-35 team remains committed to sustaining and

expanding these fielded capabilities.

Accomplishments in flight testing in recent months include completion of F-35B Block

2B Operational Test aboard the USS WASP and successful completion of the second round of

sea trials with the F-35C aboard the USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69). We have

now completed a total of five sea trials with the F-35B and F-35C. The developmental test

program is progressing steadily with a focus on wrapping up testing of the Block 3i software this

spring. This last iteration of Block 3i software will give the F-35A the combat capability

required for USAF IOC. The team also completed F-35A high angle of attack and performance

testing and continued flight envelope expansion for all aircraft variants. High angle of attack

flight testing will complete this spring for F-35C and fall for F-35B. For the F-35A, we have

performed a series of successful AIM-9X air-to-air missile launches and airborne test firings of

its GAU-22 internally-mounted 25-millimeter cannon. Air-to-ground accuracy testing of the

GAU-22 is now underway and expected to complete in summer 2016. Additionally, we

successfully conducted the first operational fleet weapons drops for the USMC and USAF, and

completed all Block 3i weapons delivery accuracy events.

Our overall assessment is that the program is making solid progress across the board and

shows improvement each day while continuing to manage emerging issues and mitigate

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programmatic risks. We are confident the F-35 team can overcome these challenges and deliver

on our commitments. In this testimony, we present a detailed update on the progress that has

been made over the past year, providing a balanced assessment of the current status of the

program, highlighting both the accomplishments and the setbacks, as well as articulating where

we believe risks remain.

III Development

Steady progress continues toward completion of the F-35 System Development and

Demonstration (SDD) phase in fall of 2017. Last year, we testified before this subcommittee and

said the program was nearing completion of Block 2 software development and was closing in

on completing all flight testing necessary to field our initial warfighting capability, also known

as Block 2B. We are now in the same position for our next increment, Block 3i. We should

complete all 3i testing this spring and convert all the fielded aircraft with earlier versions of

Block 3i to the latest version starting this summer.

The final block of F-35 development program capability, known as Block 3F, provides a

fully capable F-35 aircraft and marks the end of the SDD program. Block 3F Mission Systems

software is currently undergoing Developmental Test (DT), and many of the deficiencies

discovered in Blocks 2B and 3i software will be corrected in Block 3F. However, since both 2B

and 3i testing took longer than originally planned, the program estimates there is a risk to

completing Block 3F on time – it is now projected to be about four months late and will be

delivered in late fall of 2017. This delay is an improvement over our projection from one year

ago, and it is not expected to impact U.S. Navy (USN) IOC for the F-35C in 2018 or the other

U.S. and coalition partner’s capabilities. There are still some stability issues with both the 3i and

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3F software that we are currently working through.

Looking beyond the SDD program, the Follow-on Development or Modernization effort,

also known as Follow-on Modernization, will be the means to deliver improved capabilities to

the weapon system to ensure its relevance against advanced and emerging threats. The program

anticipates the Joint Requirements Oversight Council will approve the Follow-on Modernization

/ Block 4 Capabilities Development Document this summer. Work continues with the U.S.

services and International Partners to ensure the Modernization Program will be “right-sized” for

affordability and sustainability. In addition, the Department will ensure that separate cost,

schedule, performance and earned-value data will be available to provide detailed insight into

program execution. To this end, we awarded the initial Planning and Systems Engineering

contract in June 2015, and execution remains on track to conduct a comprehensive System

Requirements Review this fall. Two additional contract actions are planned. The first will allow

for the decomposition of system level requirements through a rigorous systems engineering

effort, and the second will continue that work through Preliminary Design Review planned in

spring 2018 and will support a Defense Acquisition Executive decision point to move forward

with the Block 4 development program in mid-2018.

F-35A Dual Capable Aircraft (DCA) continues to be aligned with and included in the

Block 4 Follow-on Modernization effort. This past summer a series of test flights were

conducted to assess the vibration, acoustic, and thermal environments of the F-35A weapons bay

with the B61-12 weapon. Nuclear Certification planning efforts have been initiated as part of the

Block 4 contracting activity in anticipation of beginning B61-12 integration on the F-35A in

2018.

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Commensurately, we have begun to “right size” the Development Test fleet of aircraft in

preparation for Follow-on Modernization. As part of this process, the services and program

office are working together to determine the correct mix of capacity and capabilities to allow us

to operate a flight test fleet that is representative of the warfighter’s fleet. This will provide the

needed capability at a lower cost, allowing the services to put more resources toward capability

enhancements.

Although solid progress is being made -- we are now 80 percent complete with all of

SDD -- F-35 development is not without technical discoveries and deficiencies, which are

common for a system that is still in development.

On August 27, 2015, the U.S. Services and International Partners restricted F-35 pilots

weighing less than 136 pounds from operating the F-35 after safe escape tests indicated the

potential for increased risk of injury to this pilot population. Currently, no F-35 pilots are

impacted by this restriction. The restriction is focused on this population, as lighter pilots are

assessed to have lower neck strength and are therefore more prone to injury as a result of neck

loading observed during testing.

There are three technical solutions that when in place will reduce the risk of neck injury

to all pilots and will eliminate the restriction to any pilot population. Two of the solutions

pertaining to the ejection seat, have been verified through testing, and will be ready to

incorporate into production aircraft and retrofit to delivered aircraft by the end of 2016. These

solutions are a head support panel between the parachute risers that prevents neck over-extension

and a pilot-selectable weight switch, which adds a very slight delay in the opening of the main

parachute, thus reducing opening shock loads. The third solution applies to the helmet and

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involves reducing its weight. This lighter helmet is expected to field by the end of 2017, but the

program intends to accelerate this timeline.

Another deficiency the Program is solving involves the Ground Data Security Assembly

Receptacle (GDR), which is part of the Off-board Mission Planning system and is used to

encrypt and decrypt the mission and maintenance data carried on the Portable Memory Device to

and from the airplane by the pilot. In 2015, the program faced significant challenges with the

pilot debrief timeline, because the GDR required approximately 1.5 hours to download a 1.5

hour flight -- far too long. We have now developed an improved GDR that will decrease the

timeline to download mission data by a factor of 8, meaning a 1.5 hour flight will be downloaded

in about 15 minutes. The new program successfully completed a CDR for the redesign in

September 2015. Test units are now being built for qualification and integration testing. We

will deliver the new GDR in summer 2016 with the first ten units delivered to Hill AFB in Utah

in support of USAF IOC. Further GDR deliveries to back-fill other units will begin in fall 2016.

As previously reported, in September 2013, during F-35B full-scale durability testing, we

experienced a significant bulkhead crack at 9,056 equivalent flight hours (EFH). The root causes

have been established and redesign effort for the bulkheads is well underway. A laser shock

peening process is being developed to address specific locations requiring additional material

improvement to meet full life. The qualification of this process is progressing satisfactorily and

is expected to be available for both production and retrofit of fielded aircraft by the end of 2017.

The F-35B durability test restarted in February 2015 and progressed to 11,915 EFH by August

2015. At that time, cracking had developed at a previously identified short life location and

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required repair. That repair work is nearing completion now. The F-35B durability test is

expected to complete its second life of durability testing during summer 2016.

In October 2015, the F-35C test article experienced cracking in the wing front spars at

13,731 EFH. The root cause has been established and redesign efforts for the spars has begun.

Standard redesign techniques, such as local material thickening and cold-working are expected to

be used to achieve full intended life. This finding does not affect the F-35A or B variant spars

because the F-35C spars are designed differently to account for the aircraft’s larger wings. In

addition, at 13,931 EFH additional cracking was found in the left side of a main fuselage

bulkhead. Once an investigation got underway, a similar, though smaller crack was also found

on the right side. This new cracking is under investigation and analysis in on-going. There is no

near-term airworthiness concern for fielded or test aircraft due to either case of cracking because

these aircraft can fly for approximately 10 years or more before these structural issues require a

fix. The F-35C is expected to complete its second life of durability testing in late 2016.

The F-35 Program Office is making progress in resolving two technical issues involving

the fuel system: fuel tank overpressure at elevated g-loading and fuel tank inerting for lightning

protection. The technical solution for the fuel overpressure has been designed, tested and is in

the process of being fielded. This will allow all F-35 variants to reach their full structural

capability. Additionally, the F-35 team recently qualified the improved fuel tank inerting

system, and the operational restriction to avoid lightning in-flight was lifted for the F-35A in late

2015. The fuel systems differences among the three aircraft variants require additional measures

to qualify the new inerting system for F-35B and F-35C. The F-35B requires the next software

release, which is expected this spring, and the F-35C will be corrected with a hardware change

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beginning summer 2016. Implementation of both overpressure and lightning corrective actions

will provide full g-envelope and full lightning protection for all three variants prior to SDD

closure and is expected to meet all IOC requirements.

Cost, Schedule, and Performance Metrics and Production Status:

Affordability remains a top priority. We continue to make it clear to the program

management team and the F-35 industrial base that the development phase must complete within

the time and funding allocated, continue to drive cost out of aircraft production, and reduce life-

cycle costs. To that end, the program has engaged in a multi-pronged approach to reduce costs

across production, operations, and support. The government/industry team is reducing aircraft

production costs through "blueprint for affordability" initiatives and reducing F135 engine costs

via ongoing engine "war on cost" strategies. These efforts include up-front contractor

investment on cost reduction initiatives, mutually agreed upon by the government and contractor

team. This arrangement motivates the contractors to accrue savings as quickly as possible in

order to recoup their investment, and it benefits the government by realizing cost savings at the

time of contract award. The goal is to reduce the flyaway cost of the USAF F-35A to between

$80 and $85 million dollars by 2019, which is anticipated to commensurately decrease the cost to

the Marine Corps F-35B and Navy F-35C variants. The program has also set a goal of

decreasing overall operating and support life-cycle cost by 30 percent.

The price of F-35s continues to decline steadily Lot after Lot. For example, the price

(including airframe, engine, and contractor fee) of a Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot 8

aircraft was approximately 3.6 percent less than an LRIP Lot 7 aircraft, and an LRIP Lot 7

aircraft was 4.2 percent lower than an LRIP Lot 6 aircraft. LRIP Lots 9 and 10 contract

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negotiations are nearing completion, and LRIP 9 contract award is anticipated no later than May

of this year. LRIP 10 will award when the Secretary of the Air Force certifies that F-35As

delivered during FY18 will be full Block 3F capable.

The program met its 2015 production goal of delivering 45 aircraft and is on track to

meet the goal of delivering 53 aircraft in calendar year 2016, with 48 of those aircraft produced

in Fort Worth, Texas and another five produced in the Italian Final Assembly and Check Out

facility at Cameri, Italy. As of March, 2016, a total of 171 aircraft have been delivered to our

test, operational and training sites. The delivery schedule for aircraft also continues to improve.

LRIP Lot 6 aircraft averaged 68 manufacturing days behind contracted delivery dates, and LRIP

Lot 7 aircraft have improved to an average of 30 manufacturing days behind contract dates. We

expect that gap to continue to reduce as we approach the first LRIP Lot 8 deliveries in the

March-April 2016 timeframe. We continue to work with both Lockheed Martin and Pratt &

Whitney to prepare the program for the production ramp increase over the next few years.

The F-35 enterprise is exploring the possibility of entering into a Block Buy Contract

(BBC) for LRIP Lots 12-14 (FY18-20). A BBC would enable significant program cost

avoidance by allowing the contractors to utilize Economic Order Quantity purchases, increase

cost reduction initiatives enabling suppliers to maximize production economies of scale through

batch orders. To substantiate the potential savings of a BBC concept, the F-35 Program Office

contracted with RAND Project Air Force (a Federally Funded Research and Development

Center) to provide an independent assessment, which is expected in March 2016. Due to budget

timing and uncertainty, the Department of Defense intends to begin the Block Buy in Lot 13

rather than Lot 12. However, we are considering an option to allow the F-35 Partners and FMS

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customers to begin a BBC in Lot 12, followed by U.S. participation in LRIP Lots 13 and 14.

This option will still result in significant cost savings.

Overall, we believe the risk of entering into a BBC in LRIP Lot 12 (FY18) to the F-35

International Partners and FMS customers is low. By the time it is necessary to commit to a

Block Buy many aspects of the program will be stable including completion of durability testing

for all three variants, near completion of all hardware qualification, completion of the majority of

3F software and weapons delivery testing, and stable production processes and ramp.

Earlier this year, the program reached agreement with Pratt & Whitney on the next two

lots of F135 propulsion systems. The F-35A/F-35C propulsion system reduced 3.4 percent from

the previously negotiated LRIP Lot 8 price to the negotiated LRIP Lot 10 price. The F-35B

propulsion system (including lift systems) reduced 6.4 percent from the previously negotiated

LRIP Lot 8 price to the LRIP Lot 10 price. For calendar year 2015, all F135 production

deliveries met contract requirements. However, recurring manufacturing quality issues have

created issues with delivered engines. Recent quality escapes on turbine blades and electronic

control systems resulted in maintenance activity to remove suspect hardware from the

operational fleet prior to delivery, but Pratt & Whitney still met their timeline for the Lockheed

production line. Pratt & Whitney has taken action to improve quality surveillance within their

manufacturing processes and is executing a rigorous quality program with their supplier.

Additionally, the program office manufacturing quality experts have engaged both Lockheed and

Pratt & Whitney to ensure quality improvement processes are in place to meet production ramp

requirements. We are also continuing to conduct stringent Production Readiness Reviews with

hundreds of suppliers to ensure the production ramp will be achievable and smooth.

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Sustainment

As of the beginning of March 2016, there are 151 operational (fleet and operational test)

and 20 DT F-35s in the inventory operating at eight sites. Together, the entire fleet has logged

more than 50,000 flight hours since our first flight in 2006. F-35A deliveries to Eglin AFB in

Florida are complete, and the program continues deliveries to Luke AFB, which is the main

training base for the USAF and Partners, including Australia’s and Norway’s first two F-35As.

During 2015, the program began delivering F-35As to Hill AFB in support of the USAF’s first

operational F-35 wing. The program has also started F-35B pilot training at Marine Corps Air

Station Beaufort in South Carolina. In the next four years, we will add another seventeen

operating bases to the F-35 enterprise across all three regions: North America, the Pacific and

Europe.

As additional aircraft come off the production line, the program is working to ensure sites

across the globe are ready to accept the F-35. Since January 2015, the program has sent out

fifty-one site activation teams supporting detailed planning at twenty-five different locations

around the globe. These sites include stand up of F-35 capability for six of the Partner Nations,

all three of the foreign military sales customers, as well as additional sites for USAF, USMC and

USN. Planning commenced in 2015 for base standups in Norway, the Netherlands, Turkey,

United Kingdom, Israel, Japan and Korea. The site activation highlight for 2015 was the

successful preparation and arrival of the F-35 at Hill AFB, forming the foundation for a projected

2016 USAF IOC.

Aircraft availability rates continue to be a focus area for the program and various

program initiatives are now showing a positive trend in this area. A disciplined Reliability &

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Maintainability program, improved maintenance procedures and manuals, continued

improvement in Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), better forecasting of spares

requirements, improved repair turn around times from supplier, and incorporation of aircraft

design improvements have resulted in excellent gains in mission capability rates and aircraft

availability rates. Today, across the fleet, we are seeing 55 to 60 percent availability rates with

units performing at 63 percent mission capability.

Last year the program provided information regarding its efforts toward the establishment

of the Global Sustainment posture across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America. In 2015, the

program made progress in standing up regional Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul, and Upgrade

(MRO&U) capabilities for airframes and engines in the European and Pacific regions. These

initial MRO&U capabilities will support overseas F-35 airframe and engine heavy-level

maintenance for all customers, including the U.S. Services, and will continue to provide the best-

value to the enterprise. Italy will provide initial airframe MRO&U capability in the European

region in 2018. Turkey will provide engine heavy maintenance in the European region in 2018

with The Netherlands and Norway providing additional capability a few years later. F-35

airframe MRO&U capability in the Pacific region will be provided first by Australia in 2018 and

then by and Japan. Australia will also be providing initial engine heavy maintenance, followed

by Japan about five years later.

In 2015 the program also kicked-off initial planning efforts for expansion of component

repair into the European and Pacific regions. Efforts began to identify ‘best value’ repair sources

in each region for approximately 18 key depot-level repairable items. International Partners and

their respective industries will be requested to propose component groupings which leverage

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their strongest industrial competencies to deliver optimum repair capability at best cost to the

global sustainment solution.

The program will continue this process in 2016 and 2017 with the Department of Defense

assigning to our Partners and FMS customers repair capabilities such as wheels and brakes,

electrical and hydraulic systems, maintenance of support equipment, and warehousing for the

global supply chain. These same capabilities either currently exist or are being developed at the

U.S. Services’ CONUS depots in accordance with current U.S. law.

VI Risk & Challenges

Although improving, the Program is not without risks and challenges. Currently, our

most significant technical concern is the development and integration of mission systems

software.

The aircraft has approximately eight million lines of code, with another 16 million lines

of code on the off-board systems. This is an order of magnitude greater than any other aircraft in

the world and represents a complex, sometimes tricky, and often frustrating element in the

program. Several years ago the program instilled discipline in the way software is developed,

lab tested, flight tested, measured and controlled by the program office. This has produced much

better and more predictable results over the past two years. However, both the fielded Block 3i

software and the 3F software in flight test are not as stable as they need to be to support our

warfighters. We are experiencing instability in the sensors -- particularly the radar – leading it to

shut off and “reboot” in flight. Currently, this problem occurs about once every four hours of

flying, and we expect to improve this to once every eight to ten hours of flying. We believe we

have identified the root cause of these stability problems to be the timing of software messages

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from the sensors to the main F-35 fusion computer, and we have tested solutions in the lab

environment. We will be flight testing these fixes in the March-April timeframe. If the fixes are

successful, we will add them to a new version of 3i software and field that in time for USAF

IOC. We will also incorporate the fixes in the 3F software we are developing and flight testing.

To ensure we completely understand these issues the program office has launched an in-depth

look at this issue in the form of a software stability “Red Team.” This team, made up of a group

of experts from the Navy and Air Force, will conduct its study beginning in March and report

back to the Program Office.

The final software version, Block 3F, has the most software risk facing the program for a

number of reasons. First, 3F testing started later than planned because we had to spend more

time fixing Block 2B and 3i software. Second, 3F has the same stability issues as Block 3i as

described above. Third, the Block 3F software must take information from other sources, such

as other non-F-35 aircraft, satellites, and ground stations and fuse this information with F-35

information, giving the pilot a complete and accurate picture of the battlespace. Additionally,

the remaining flight loads, buffet, and weapons delivery accuracy flight testing needs to be

accomplished.

We estimate there is about four months of risk to this schedule, placing full 3F

capability to the warfighters in the late fall of 2017.

The next version of ALIS, version 2.0.2, which includes new capabilities to support

USAF IOC, also has some schedule risk. This version of ALIS combines the management of

F135 engine maintenance within ALIS and tracks all the life-limited parts on each and every

F-35 aircraft. The development of these capabilities is proving to be difficult because they

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require integration with Lockheed Martin’s and Pratt & Whitney’s Enterprise Resource Planning

systems, or the “back end” of ALIS.

We are also working closely with the Joint Operational Test Team to finalize its F-35

FY16 Cyber Test Plan. This testing is scheduled to begin in April 2016 and will perform end-to-

end Vulnerability and Adversarial Testing on ALIS and the F-35 Air Vehicle. Hundreds of

penetration and cyber security test have already been accomplished on the system, enabling us to

connect the F-35 systems to the DoD Global Information Grid (DoD and Services networks).

We have also instituted an ALIS initiative aimed at fixing prior deficiencies and rapidly

fielding them to the warfighter. As we continue to develop new capabilities, the Program has set

up a parallel effort -- known as “Service Packs” -- to fix many of the deficiencies the maintainers

in the field have brought to our attention. These deficiencies usually result in workarounds and

add workload to our maintainers’ already busy jobs. Service Packs are developed, tested and

fielded on a much quicker timeline than our larger increments of ALIS. We fielded the first

Service Pack in January, and feedback from the field has been encouraging. We will continue to

rapidly field Service Packs to improve the usability of ALIS for our maintainers, the next of

which will be fielded this spring.

One final comment concerning risks and issues on the program deals with the recent

report issued by the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). This report is

factually accurate and was written entirely based on information that came from the F-35

Program Office – there is no information in the report that was not already known by the

Program Office, the U.S. Services, and our Partners. While not highlighted by the DOT&E

report, for each issue cited the F-35 Program has a dedicated effort underway to resolve or

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otherwise mitigate the issue. We are prepared to provide further details on any of these issues

and our actions to address them.

VII

Delivering Combat Capability

Following the declaration of IOC in June of 2015, the USMC has continued to train and

exercise its combat capable F-35B aircraft. At the beginning of December 2015, Marine Fighter

Attack Squadron 121 deployed eight F-35Bs to Twentynine Palms in California for Exercise

Steel Knight. The team executed 32 sorties in support of the combined arms live-fire exercise,

taking an important step toward integrating the F-35B into the Marine Corps Ground Combat

Element and demonstrating their capability to execute close air support and strike missions from

an austere operating site.

The USAF also showed their increasing capabilities with the F-35A, executing a

deployment of six Operational Test aircraft from the 31

Test and Evaluation Squadron at

Edwards AFB, California to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. The squadron executed 54 sorties

over twelve days of flying as part of a joint training exercise with U.S. Navy Seals, F-15Es,

A-10s, and Apache and Blackhawk helicopters, delivering 10 GBU-31 and 20 GBU-12 precision

guided inert munitions. This is the first time the F-35A has deployed to and operated from a

base with no organic F-35 support or presence.

The F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office’s top priority is now meeting USAF IOC at

Hill AFB, Utah with Block 3i capabilities between August and December 2016. Hill's active-

duty 388th Fighter Wing and Reserve 419th Fighter Wing will be the first USAF combat-coded

units to fly and maintain the Lightning II. In support of meeting the USAF’s IOC date, Hill AFB

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has already received its initial F-35As and is now training with them, including the first weapons

employment from an operational F-35A.

The USN has set August 2018 as its IOC objective date with the F-35C. In support of

meeting the USN IOC, sea trials will continue this year and culminate in the third and final DT

period afloat. This test is expected to last approximately 21 days and will test and certify the

remaining embarked launch and recovery environmental envelopes, including those with various

ordnance and fuel load combinations expected in fleet use. The test will also complete all initial

shipboard flight deck and hangar deck supportability procedures and processes, paving the way

Operational Test and Fleet use.

VIII

International Partner and FMS Participants

International participation on the program with eight Partners and three FMS customers

remains solid. The program has now delivered the first Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35 to

Luke AFB expanding the International Partner pilot training currently ongoing there. The first

Italian Air Force F-35A was also delivered from the production facility in Cameri, Italy, and then

subsequently completed the first F-35 trans-Atlantic flight in February, landing at Naval Air

Station, Patuxent River in Maryland. After completion of some program testing, this aircraft will

also join the pilot training effort at Luke AFB. F-35A has also conducted aerial refueling flight

testing with a Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A tanker and completed aerial refueling flight

testing and certification with an Italian Air Force KC-767 tanker.

In 2015, as part of initial site planning, we commenced standup of maintenance

capabilities in Norway, Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, Israel, Japan and Korea. Also,

the Japanese Final Assembly and Check Out assembly facility is now complete with both

FOU, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 150: Kampflyforligsnotater, fra forsvarsministeren

Electronic Mate Assembly Stations tools installed and accepted. Construction and installation

activities remain on schedule, and the major components are now being shipped. The first

Japanese F-35A is scheduled to rollout of the facility in November 2016.

We anticipate that Denmark will make its final decision on its fighter replacement late

spring 2016. Additionally, although Canada has indicated that it will conduct a new fighter

replacement competition, it still remains a full partner in the F-35 program. We continue to

provide the Canadian government with the most up-to-date and accurate information to aid them

in their future selection process.

IX Conclusion

In summary, the F-35 program is making solid progress across all areas including

development, flight test, production, maintenance, and stand-up of the global sustainment

enterprise. As with any big and complex program, new discoveries, challenges and obstacles

will occur. The F-35 is still in development, and it is the time when technical challenges are

expected. However, we believe the combined government / industry team has the ability to

resolve current issues and future discoveries. The team’s commitment to overcoming these

challenges is unwavering and we will maximize the F-35’s full capability for the Warfighter.

We will continue executing with integrity, discipline, transparency and accountability,

holding ourselves accountable for the outcomes on this program. The team recognizes the

responsibility the program has been given to provide the pillar of the U.S. and allied fighter

capability with the F-35 for generations to come, and that your sons and daughters, grandsons

and granddaughters may someday take this aircraft into harm’s way to defend our freedom and

way of life. It is a responsibility we take very seriously.

FOU, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 150: Kampflyforligsnotater, fra forsvarsministeren

Thank you again for this opportunity to discuss the F-35 program. We look forward to

answering any questions you have.