JSF Pressure

The August congressional recess hasn't stopped lawmakers from pressuring the Defense Department to continue developing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, despite program delays and cost increases.

In an Aug. 31 letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) calls on Panetta to "fully commit to the expeditious fielding of the F-35 and forego procuring any additional 4th-generation fighter aircraft such as the F-18E/F which will be of limited to no value in any future threat scenario."

Yesterday, Inside the Pentagon reported that Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn had turned down a plea made by nine senators to reconsider the termination of the second engine for the JSF:

In an Aug. 23 letter, Lynn writes that continuing a competitive acquisition strategy for the fighter's engine does not make sense, even when taking into account General Electric and Rolls Royce's offer to "self-fund" more than $100 million of the development costs for their F136 engine, which the department terminated earlier this year.

Lynn's letter is a response to an Aug. 2 letter sent to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta by Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH), John Kerry (D-MA), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Scott Brown (R-MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dan Coats (R-IN) and Mark Warner (D-VA).

The senators asked Panetta to review the termination decision and to "take no action" on the disposition of government property acquired under the F136 development contract until the fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bill is "fully debated" and passed by the Congress. But Lynn notes that the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation shop concluded that "the potential life-cycle cost savings from a competitive sourcing of engines does not provide a compelling business case for a second JSF engine."

"Given the austere fiscal environment and increasing pressure to cut future defense spending, it is difficult for the Department to justify making such an investment," Lynn writes.

The Pentagon remains unmoved by General Electric and Rolls Royce's proposal to "self-fund" further development of the F136 with more than $100 million of the contractors' own funds in FY-12. The department estimates that it would require $480 million in FY-12 to continue the development of the F136, Lynn notes.

This morning, Inside the Air Force reports that JSF program officials recently began to train both pilots and maintainers using classroom and ground exercises as well as test site visits, paving the way for flight training expected to begin in the next two months:

The F-35 has not yet received its formal airworthiness certification from the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center, a certification that comes with a military flight release, according to Marine Corps Col. Art Tomassetti, the vice commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, the site of the F-35 training program. That license to fly is expected this month, Tomassetti wrote through an Eglin AFB spokeswoman in an Aug. 30 statement to Inside the Air Force.

Once that and other certifications are granted by the Defense Department over the next two months, pilots in training will be allowed to begin practice flights, Tomassetti said. Those are expected to begin in the fall. In the meantime, the two JSF aircraft that have been at at Eglin since July -- Air Force variants known as AF-8 and AF-9 -- are being used primarily for maintenance training.

"Small group tryouts for government maintenance training started in August," Tomassetti wrote. "A handful of maintainers focused on running through the course material needed to teach fuels and avionics. We are also completing installation in our new facilities, ensuring training, support equipment, Autonomic Logistic Information System (ALIS) and personnel are in place."