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2014-08-29 The F-35 enterprise involves building new hangars as well as building out a new fleet.
In part, it has been a long time since the US actually built out a new fleet of a large number of aircraft; and even longer when it has built a set of new hangars and infrastructure for the air fleet.
The most recent contract worth a total of $240 million, was awarded by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command.
In an article by Richard Tomkins of UPI published on August 27, 2014:
The U.S. Navy has given five companies indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards for hanger construction work related to the F-35 aircraft.
The hanger project, worth a total of $240 million, was awarded by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command.
Work will involve general building type projects — new construction, renovation, alteration, demolition and repair work — for hangar, aircraft traffic control, infrastructure, administrative, training, dormitory and community support facilities.
Recipients of the three-year contract: Carothers Construction Inc. of Mississippi, Archer Western Construction of llinois, Brasfield and Gorrie General Contractors of Alabama Florida’s Hensel Phelps Construction Co., and M.A. Mortenson Construction Co. of Minnesota.
The Navy said Carothers Construction has been awarded the initial task order of the contract for the design and construction of an aircraft maintenance hangar at the Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, S.C. The order is worth $34.4 million.
“The new hangar is designed to support and accommodate the F-35’s unique operational and maintenance requirements,” said Troy Ward, MCAS Beaufort Site Activation Task Force program manager.
“The existing hangars were designed and built to accommodate legacy aircraft, almost 60 years ago.
They have reached the end of their useful life and renovating or expanding the existing hangars would not be cost effective.”
Earlier we published one of the few pieces on the F-35 hangar process.
In that article published in the Fall of 2012 we discussed the hangar program with Phil Klendworth, head of site activation for the F-35 at Lockheed Martin.
SLD: Could you discuss the advantage of getting a common design when you come to construction and how that saves money and increase efficiency realistically? What’s the real advantage?
Klendworth: Savings and advantages are recognized in many different ways. Design packages take less time to build, the design inspection goes faster because the basic requirements are being electronically brought over and the construction cost can be lower when you have actual cost from like facilities to challenge with. For the squadron person he or she can walk into any JSF hangar and find common services (power, air, ALIS), shops and offices that are similar to their own facilities and operations.
It also allows for industry to compete on JSF projects across the United States much easier and capitalize on economy of scale.
Having a basic design makes it easy to estimate around the country and globe because there is standard labor and material cost factor that can be applied based on regional areas to give you a rough order of magnitude cost estimate for long range financial budget planning.
SLD: Have you already seen cost savings from the replication process?
Klendworth: It has already been realized at Yuma.
The cost estimate for the second hangar was less than the first. The span time to construct has been reduced significantly and we have been able to capture functionality improvements from the Lesson Learned database in the second hangar design.
SLD: My understanding is that a lot of the legacy equipment used in a hanger to support an aircraft has been eliminated by the F-35. Is that correct?
Klendworth: That has been the JSF approach. It’s more cost effective to put permanent installed systems that are support three or four stations compared to having three or four replicated sets of support equipment in a hangar.
SLD: The next USMC F-35 facility will be built on the East Coast, at Beaufort Air Station. Have you seen cross learning between Yuma and Beaufort?
Klendworth: The facility infrastructure at Beaufort is very similar to the construction of the facilities in Yuma. The hangar that is being constructed at Beaufort right now has a mission planning area that is very similar to Yuma and other basing locations.
We took the basic common solution set for Yuma, laid it into Beaufort and we’re also laying it into a third location for the Marine Corps.
In general, we’ve established the core knowledge base for building the infrastructure and we are exchanging that information with our government counterparts at the Joint Program Office and so we have a collaborative team of both government and contractor personnel that take these designs and advertise and implement them at multiple basing locations throughout the world.
We currently have 22 different basing locations spread throughout the world that are using the basic core set of designs for hangars, training facilities, and off aircraft shop type of support.
2014-08-23 “Workhorse” Becomes First F-35 to Achieve 1,000 Flight Hours
by Kenji Thuloweit
412th Test Wing Public Affairs
6/18/14
Edwards Air Force Base
AF-2, the second production F-35 Lightning II for the U.S. Air Force, became the first F-35 to reach 1,000 flight hours.
Paul Hattendorf, Lockheed Martin test pilot, was flying an Airframe Loads Envelope Expansion mission June 11 when the fighter reached the milestone.
“AF-2′s nickname is ‘Workhorse,’ said Randy Thompson, F-35 Integrated Test Force, Government Air Vehicle lead. “It continues to carry the Flight Sciences testing load executing its primary mission of loads envelope expansion. Every AF-2 flight-test hour moves the JSF enterprise closer to providing our warriors with the Air Force Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and final System Development and Demonstration maneuvering envelopes.
Paul Hattendorf, Lockheed Martin test pilot, flies AF-2 over Edwards AFB, Calif., during an Airframe Loads Envelope Expansion mission June 11, 2014. On this test mission, AF-2 reached 1,000 flying hours, becoming the first F-35 to do so. (Photo courtesy of Tom Reynolds/Lockheed Martin)
Thompson added that data collected from all Flight Sciences aircraft help refine the airframe usage spectrum, which in turn allows for a more accurate fleet life determination.
The 412th Test Wing is home to 15 Lightning IIs.
The Edwards F-35 ITF has nine F-35s assigned for developmental testing – representing all three variants of the fifth-generation fighter: six F-35As, two F-35Bs and one F-35C.
Additionally, Edwards AFB’s Operational Test units have six F-35As assigned.
“AF-2 is the ‘Pull G’s jet.’
It was the first aircraft to hit plus-nine-G and negative-three-G and to roll at design-load factor.
In addition, AF-2 is the first F-35A to intentionally fly in significant airframe buffet at all angles of attack,” said Thompson.
Both AF-2 and AF-1 ferried to Edwards from the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas, May 17, 2010.
Thompson said AF-2 has specific instrumentation and was calibrated for in-flight loads measurements prior to ferrying to Edwards.
In addition, it is instrumented to execute airframe buffet testing; landing, braking and arresting hook testing; and ground and in-flight gun testing.
The Lightning II software has 24 million lines of code, which is continually being updated and improved.
The ITF team, AF-2 and the rest of the Edwards F-35 test fleet, continues to get closer in getting the world’s most advanced fighter into the hands of the warfighter.
“The entire F-35 Edwards ITF team and the 412th TW are pressing hard to complete testing required for the 2B fleet release (Marine Corp IOC mission systems software release and AF IOC maneuvering envelope release). As aircraft compete their slated 2B testing, the team moves ahead with testing required for the final SDD clearances. Post 2B testing milestones include putting the final SDD talons on the Lightning II with the first flight of the Small Diameter Bomb, first gun fire and continued external GBU-12 envelope expansion, as well as beginning to test the final SDD mission systems suite,” concluded Thompson.
The planned date for Air Force Initial Operational Capability of its F-35As is August 2016.
The Marines will go operational one year before that.
Credit Video: Lockheed Martin
For an update on the USMC roll out of the F-35 at Yuma see the following:
2014-08-26 According to a Lockheed Martin press release from August 25, 2014:
The L F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program continued a steady path of flight test milestones in August, including weapons separation, software compatibility and flight hours, all demonstrating program maturity.
“The test milestones are a direct result of the detailed planning, coordination and execution between various government teams and the integrated test force,” said J.D. McFarlan, Lockheed Martin’s Vice President for F-35 Test & Verification. “Every testing milestone demonstrates the development of the F-35 in successive steps toward enabling the U.S. Marine Corps to attain its F-35B Initial Operational Capacity (IOC) next year.”
F-35A aircraft AF-1 accomplished its 400th flight during a successful GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) aircraft separation test on Aug. 13 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. This was the first GBU-31 Mark-84 (2,000-pound guided munition) separation demonstration from the F-35. Previous GBU-31 separations were with the BLU-109 (Bomb Live Unit) bomb body.
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F-35B aircraft BF-1 and BF-4 completed “Mode 4” formation testing on Aug 9th, as required for Block 2B software capability.
“In Mode 4 operations, the STOVL Propulsion System is engaged, the lift fan, roll post nozzle, and three-bearing-swivel nozzle are operating, and all propulsion system doors and inlets are open.
Flight testing validated the F-35B Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant’s ability to operate well in this configuration during formation flight which supports operations around the ship; a key milestone for the F-35B path to IOC,” McFarlan said.
F-35B aircraft BF-3 completed the 2B software fleet release weapon separation requirements for the F-35B with two successful AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) Air Vehicle Instrumented (AAVI) separation flights on consecutive days, Aug. 14 and 15.
The AIM-120 radar-guided missiles were launched over the Atlantic Test Range. “2B software fleet release is critical to the warfighter because it delivers the first combat capability to our most dominant 5th generation platform. Weapons employment is one the most critical combat capabilities.
This culminates years of dedicated work that proves safe separation in 2B configurations and provides this capability and confidence to our customers,” McFarlan said.
Along with the testing milestones, to date, the overall System Development and Demonstration (SDD) F-35A test fleet surpassed its 4,000th flight hour on Aug. 14 and in total, the F-35 Fleet has surpassed 19,500 flight hours, with more than 8,000 hours in SDD aircraft.
F-35A aircraft AF-1 achieved its 400th flight milestone on Aug. 13; F-35A aircraft AF-4 surpassed 500 flight hours, Aug. 11 and F-35C aircraft CF-2 achieved 300 flights on Aug. 14.
The F-35 Lightning II, a 5th generation fighter, combines advanced low observable stealth technology with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment.
Three distinct variants of the F-35 will replace the A/OA-10 Thunderbolt II and F-16 Fighting Falcon for the U.S. Air Force, the F/A-18 Hornet for the U.S. Navy, the F/A-18 and AV-8B Harrier for the U.S. Marine Corps, and a variety of fighters for at least 10 other countries.
Following the U.S. Marine Corps’ planned 2015 IOC, the U.S. Air Force and Navy intend to attain IOC in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
The first photo showsF-35B aircraft BF-1 and BF-4 fly together in Mode 4 formation near NAS Patuxent River, Md., piloted by Mr. Dan Levin (in aircraft BF-1) and USMC Major Mike Kingen (in aircraft BF-4), Aug. 6.
The second photo shows F-35B aircraft BF-3, piloted by USMC Maj Michael Kingen, fires an AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) in the first live fire test from NAS Patuxent River, Md., Aug. 14.
2014-08-26 The Italian F-35 FACO in Cameri, Italy achieved a significant milestone with AL-1 last night.
Aircraft structure, hardware and software assembly and integration had progressed to the point where power was applied to the aircraft for the first time.
This is a significant achievement and is a testament to the team at Cameri that made it possible.
AL-1 is programmed to roll-out from production in January 2015 and is expected to make its first flight in the summer of 2015.
For our look at the Cameri facility and its future in the F-35 global enterprise, please see the following:
In this special report, we look at the Italian engagement with the F-35 and the thinking of Italian airpower leaders about the impact of the F-35 on the future.
We have a version in Italian for our Italian readers which can be downloaded below:
At Cameri, Italians are standing up a Final Assembly and Check Out Facility or FACO, a Final Wing Assembly for building for the global fleet, and Fleet Sustainment Facility for the region, including Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
The Cameri facility includes both an ATF or Aircraft Test Facility (for testing stealth performance) and a final paint facility. This means that in the heart of Europe, the F-35 fleet will have a battle damage facility.
Cameri, Fort Worth, Japan and Israel will all see key elements of the F-35 global production system. This means that for the first time, the United States in building its front line fighter is looking to work differently with allies. In turn, allies are building out a global sustainment capability available to those nations, which buy, into the F-35 fleet.
Significant cross learning has already occurred, but is just beginning. The advantages of building a global system where best practices can be developed are obvious.
Building a global sustainment approach is less so. But the impact on the cost of operations of an airfleet is significant.
Rather than bringing the logistical support equipment and material to the operational forward base, the forward deployment of warehoused parts and regionally based sustainment competencies will not only allow and air fleet to move rapidly to a problem but to reduce the need for surge airlift and tanking to get those supplies to the point of attack.
This is part of what the head of the Italian Air Force refers to the F-35 as part of building new coalition capabilities and shaping an F-35 fleet which can operate through coalitions against distributed challenges with distributed operational capabilities.
We start the Special Report by providing the interviews with RADM Covella, the head of the F-35 program in Italy, Lt. General Preziosa, the head of the Italian Air Force, BG Espisoto and Lt General Lupoli who focused on their perspectives on the F-35 and the evolution of Italian airpower.
We next add a look at the impact of the new aircraft on the latest Italian aircraft carrier, the Cavour. What is the impact of shifting from Harriers to F-35Bs on the role of this type of ship?
We next examine the perspectives of four key industrial executives working in Italy with Alenia Aermacchi (AAeM) to make Cameri a reality. Their experience and perspectives are unique and are part of a new approach to Euro-American defense industrial cooperation.
We then close with two more general pieces providing overviews.
The first looks at the nature of change posed by the Italian experience for the Asians as the Japanese add their own FACO facility.
The second looks at the general approach of the F-35 program to allies and the role of global investments.
It is the case of a 21st century combat aircraft built in global 21st century facilities with a global sustainment approach built in.
This is a unique moment in military aviation history.
08/26/2014: The Blue Marlin is a semi-submersible heavy lift ship designed to transport very large semi-submersible drilling rigs above the transport ship’s deck.
This ship can carry a staggering 75,000 tons.
Credit: USCG District 13:8/24/14
According to the Wikipedia entry:
Blue Marlin is a semi-submersible heavy lift ship from Dockwise Shipping of the Netherlands. Designed to transport very large semi-submersible drilling rigs above the transport ship’s deck, it is equipped with 38 cabins to accommodate 60 people, a workout room, sauna and swimming facilities. Blue Marlin and her sister ship MV Black Marlin comprise the Marlin class of heavy lift ship.
Blue Marlin and her sister ship were owned by Offshore Heavy Transport of Oslo, Norway, from their construction, in April 2000 and November 1999 respectively, until 6 July 2001, when they were purchased by Dockwise.
The U.S. Navy hired Blue Marlin from Offshore Heavy Transport to move the destroyer USS Cole back to the United States after the warship was damaged by Al-Qaeda suicide bombers while anchored in the port of Aden, Yemen. During the latter part of 2003, work done on Blue Marlin boosted its capacity and added two retractable propulsors to improve maneuverability.
The ship re-entered service in January 2004. Following these improvements, Blue Marlin delivered the oil platform Thunder Horse PDQ, weighing 60,000 tons, to Corpus Christi, Texas, for completion.
In July 2005 Blue Marlin moved the gas refinery Snøhvit from its construction site in Cádiz to Hammerfest, an 11 day trip.[ This transport was filmed for the TV show Extreme Engineering on the Discovery Channel, and also the TV show Mega Movers on the History Channel.
In November 2005, Blue Marlin left Corpus Christi, Texas, to move the massive Sea-based X-band Radar to Adak, Alaska, via the southern tip of South America and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It arrived at Pearl Harbor on 9 January 2006, having travelled 15,000 miles. In January 2007, the Blue Marlin was employed to move two jack-up rigs, the Rowan Gorilla VI and the GlobalSantaFe Galaxy II, from Halifax Harbour to the North Sea.
On 16 June 2012, the ship arrived in Ferrol Harbour in preparation for transporting the amphibious warship HMAS Canberra to Melbourne, Australia. The incomplete Australian ship was lifted onto Blue Marlin on 4 August 2012 and was scheduled to sail on 12 August, bound for Australia BAE Systems shipyard in Williamstown. The ship passed the Port Phillip Heads marking its arrival in Melbourne on 17 October 2012.[
And according to a recent AP piece about the presence of the ship in Portland, Oregon:
A heavy-lift vessel transporting the parts for a $50 million dry dock will be a striking sight this weekend as it makes its way up the Columbia River to Portland.
The Dutch vessel Blue Marlin is carrying the Chinese-built components of the dry dock that Vigor Industrial LLC plans to use for repairing large cruise ships and other vessels at Swan Island.
The 738-foot Blue Marlin is known as the world’s largest heavy-lift ship, the Oregonian reported (http://bit.ly/1ACfrjk ). Vigor Industrial said the three pieces of the dry dock will be 960 feet long once they are assembled, which is expected by Nov. 1.
Ship repair companies use dry docks to pull ships out of the water for maintenance.
With the new dock, Vigor hopes to work on larger ships, including cruise ships that pass Oregon on their way to and from Alaska, said Chief Executive Frank Foti.
The dock was scheduled to arrive in March but encountered construction delays. Two ships awaiting maintenance are queued at Swan Island.
Foti said the arrival of the dock marks a turnaround in the company’s fortunes.
It had fewer than 80 workers at the Portland shipyard in the mid-1990s and sold a similar dry dock in 2001 to raise money to pay creditors. It went to the Bahamas.
The new dock is due to cross the Columbia River bar Sunday morning and arrive in Portland on Monday.
The company said boaters are being advised to keep their distance to ensure safety.
2014-08-23 “Workhorse” Becomes First F-35 to Achieve 1,000 Flight Hours
by Kenji Thuloweit
412th Test Wing Public Affairs
6/18/14
Edwards Air Force Base
AF-2, the second production F-35 Lightning II for the U.S. Air Force, became the first F-35 to reach 1,000 flight hours.
Paul Hattendorf, Lockheed Martin test pilot, was flying an Airframe Loads Envelope Expansion mission June 11 when the fighter reached the milestone.
Paul Hattendorf, Lockheed Martin test pilot, flies AF-2 over Edwards AFB, Calif., during an Airframe Loads Envelope Expansion mission June 11, 2014. On this test mission, AF-2 reached 1,000 flying hours, becoming the first F-35 to do so. (Photo courtesy of Tom Reynolds/Lockheed Martin)
“AF-2’s nickname is ‘Workhorse,’ said Randy Thompson, F-35 Integrated Test Force, Government Air Vehicle lead. “It continues to carry the Flight Sciences testing load executing its primary mission of loads envelope expansion. Every AF-2 flight-test hour moves the JSF enterprise closer to providing our warriors with the Air Force Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and final System Development and Demonstration maneuvering envelopes.
Thompson added that data collected from all Flight Sciences aircraft help refine the airframe usage spectrum, which in turn allows for a more accurate fleet life determination.
The 412th Test Wing is home to 15 Lightning IIs. The Edwards F-35 ITF has nine F-35s assigned for developmental testing – representing all three variants of the fifth-generation fighter: six F-35As, two F-35Bs and one F-35C.
Additionally, Edwards AFB’s Operational Test units have six F-35As assigned.
“AF-2 is the ‘Pull G’s jet.’ It was the first aircraft to hit plus-nine-G and negative-three-G and to roll at design-load factor. In addition, AF-2 is the first F-35A to intentionally fly in significant airframe buffet at all angles of attack,” said Thompson.
Both AF-2 and AF-1 ferried to Edwards from the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas, May 17, 2010.
Thompson said AF-2 has specific instrumentation and was calibrated for in-flight loads measurements prior to ferrying to Edwards. In addition, it is instrumented to execute airframe buffet testing; landing, braking and arresting hook testing; and ground and in-flight gun testing.
The Lightning II software has 24 million lines of code, which is continually being updated and improved. The ITF team, AF-2 and the rest of the Edwards F-35 test fleet, continues to get closer in getting the world’s most advanced fighter into the hands of the warfighter.
“The entire F-35 Edwards ITF team and the 412th TW are pressing hard to complete testing required for the 2B fleet release (Marine Corp IOC mission systems software release and AF IOC maneuvering envelope release). As aircraft compete their slated 2B testing, the team moves ahead with testing required for the final SDD clearances. Post 2B testing milestones include putting the final SDD talons on the Lightning II with the first flight of the Small Diameter Bomb, first gun fire and continued external GBU-12 envelope expansion, as well as beginning to test the final SDD mission systems suite,” concluded Thompson.
The planned date for Air Force Initial Operational Capability of its F-35As is August 2016.
The Marines will go operational one year before that.
Credit Video: Lockheed Martin
For an update on the USMC roll out of the F-35 at Yuma see the following:
08/15/2014: A tiltrotor MV-22 Osprey, assigned to the Argonauts of Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron (VMX) 22, transporting distinguished visitors and guests from Uruguay prepares to land aboard future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).
America is currently traveling through the U.S. Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility on its maiden transit, “America visits the Americas.” America is the first ship of its class, replacing the Tarawa-class of amphibious assault ships.
As the next generation “big-deck” amphibious assault ship, America is optimized for aviation, capable of supporting current and future aircraft such as the Osprey and F-35B Joint Strike Fighter.
The ship is scheduled to be ceremoniously commissioned Oct. 11 in San Francisco.
Credit:USS America:8//13/14
In the second photo, Capt. Robert A. Hall Jr., commanding officer of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), greets Uruguay navy Adm. Daniel Núñez during a bilateral engagement with distinguished visitors from Uruguay.
In the third photo, Rear Adm. Frank L. Ponds, right, commander, Expeditionary Strike Group(ESG) 3, greets Uruguay navy Adm. Daniel Núñez during a bilateral engagement with distinguished visitors from Uruguay. America is currently traveling through the U.S. Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility on its maiden transit, “America visits the Americas.”
In the fourth photo, Capt. Robert A. Hall Jr., right, commanding officer of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), presents a command ball cap to Uruguay army Gen. Neris Corbo during a bilateral engagement with distinguished visitors from Uruguay. America is currently traveling through the U.S. Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility on its maiden transit, “America visits the Americas.”
The final photos, show the Osprey landing and bringing visitors aboard for the visit.
2014-07-23 It is clear from much of the policy discussion surrounding the F-35 that it is difficult for folks to wrap their minds around what a global support structure might look like. What also makes the discussion difficult is to understand what a F-35 fleet deployed on national territories, on ships or in forward points of operations means in terms of a global support structure.
The F-35 is a 21st century air system, and as such shares the combat space with both legacy and 21st century systems and any global enterprise support structure will be decisively shaped by changes in global commercial logistics as well.
The depot structure of the Pentagon is largely out of sync with globality or expeditionary reach but can be significantly modified to adapt to changing global conditions.
But is not the F-35 global enterprise, which should be bent to conform to a 20th century depot logistics management system; it is the other way around.
Drivers of Change
There are a number of fundamental drivers of change associated with the coming F-35 fleet that will alter the environment within which the logistics enterprise needs to be re-shaped.
First, there are simply the physical aspects of how the plane is manufactured. This is the first fighter aircraft ever built with common parts stamped throughout the plane with an information management system, which can manage the parts throughout a global supply chain.
What is done with this capability is a function of how organizations take advantage or not of such a capability. Notably, the A400M is built with common UIDs built in, and the question remains whether the various European MODs will take advantage of this commonality and an IT system to manage the parts from a broader perspective than the national Air Force.
Economies of scale, security of supply and improvements in the parts themselves can all be facilitated by the ability to “see” each part, where it comes from and how it performs.
But if the logistics bureaucracy simply operate as bottle necks to the flow of the information to the prime contractor, then the ability to improve the supply chain as planes are built, improved and produced will be undercut.
This is as true for an A400M as it is for the F-35.
Put in blunt terms, the governments can blame themselves for driving up costs, and reducing reliability by over-bureaucratizing the “management” of the supply chain.
The USN-USMC teaming in building an innovative approach to support of a tiltrotar assault force within which the F-35B plays a key role in providing 360 degree air cover. Credit; USN
Building, deploying and operating 21st century combat aircraft is not a government jobs program; it is about winning the unfair fight in combat situations.
Second, there is a strategic shift from linear air operations FROM bases to expeditionary air operations in engagement areas. This means that the ability to operate aircraft in a variety of conditions, which will not see a lot of prepositioned equipment, will be more frequent for 21t century operations. Depots will be a long way away from the engagement area.
It will not be about building Wal-Mart’s and then providing support to combat aircraft and support aircraft. It will be about the ability to operate forward.
For example, the Marines are engaged in a significant shift in the Pacific referred to as the distributed laydown and the USAF in the Pacific is working in distributed operations as well. These efforts work only with effective expeditionary logistics able to operate in support of an engagement force.
Again, depots are a long way away. This is not an aberration but a trend.
Third, littoral operations using 21st century equipment will be a key requirement for U.S. global policy in the period ahead.
And working through how to support those new capabilities at sea is a key aspect of the change. It is no accident that the USS America, the largest amphibious ship ever built and designed to maintain Ospreys and F-35Bs at sea, will see the VMX-22 squadron come onboard precisely to work on how Ospreys can be maintained effectively at sea aboard the new ship.
And clearly working on how commercial methods can be leveraged to better do at sea maintenance and heighten operational effectiveness is crucial as well.
In a recent interview with the head of the Military Sealift Command, Admiral Shannon, highlighted that loading functions of MSC lagged significantly behind how the commercial fleets did global loading. He asked simply: Why?
The answer clearly is because DoD does not do it that way. This gap between commercial and defense applications is crucial to overcome to deal with the sustainment challenges facing 21st century systems, including the F-35.
A final driver for change is very tough for the Department of Defense to recognize. Although the F-35 is a U.S. aircraft, it has significant foreign content and has a global network of suppliers.
Yet it is not for a fleet of U.S. airplanes; it is for a fleet of global airplanes. The U.S. is not rolling out F-35s at anticipated rates in its own forces, which will lead to the USAF having to compete with the roll out to foreign Air Forces.
Neither DoD policy makers nor the Congress have fully appreciated the impact of concurrent deployments of advanced aircraft. This means that core allies are on the ground floor of shaping a sustainment system for the global fleet of F-35s.
As one Australian supplier to the F-35 and to commercial aircraft put it: “The F-35 is the military equivalent of the A-320 in terms of populating the fleets of global users.”
A Way to Look at the Challenge: The Australian Case
Australia is an expeditionary case all and in of itself. For the RAAF to operate anywhere in Australia, it has to cover vast distances. And when it flies to an engagement in the Pacific or elsewhere, logistics shortfalls is a constant problem.
According to Vice Air Marshal (Retired) Jon Blackburn, Australia needs a just in case rather than a just in time logistics system. Being on the other side of the world means that the RAAF needs security of supply as well as cost effective approaches to providing for that supply.
The RAAF is clearly committed to F-35 but worries about how the logistics system will operate in conjunction with its overall approach.
What are the implications of a changing model for logistics support as exemplified by the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and its global supply chain approach?
The commonality of spares across the supply chain means that you do not necessarily own all the parts yourself.
It is a neat economic concept, but because it is not built yet, there is no evidence of how it is going to work in a contingency.
How do you build an information system to support the new logistics support model and interface with an old style of supply chain management?
Integration does not seem realistic, but interoperability is the key word in this case.
In his presentation to The Williams Foundation seminar in March 2014 on air combat in 2025 and beyond, the Chief of Staff or the RAAF focused on the F-35. He highlighted the centrality of the decision superiority inherent in the systems of the aircraft. But underscored that training and effective concepts of operations were necessary to achieve a latent advantage.Credit Photo: Second Line of Defense
The builder builds a platform/product, but it is not their responsibility to make the overall defense system work.
The maintenance aspects of the contract are competed.
What is changing right now is the construct of owning your spares and defining a contract and support service in-country, while you are part of a global supply chain.
In the case of the JSF, Lockheed Martin is in charge of a global supply chain based on shared spares. The fighter is part of a much bigger supply chain managed by a system called ALIS (autonomous logistics information system).
The system is managed as a global entity, not as an “Australian stovepipe”. So what you are talking about is a change in the concept of support logistics, as a result of the change in technology.
How do you interface with a legacy logistics system such as that in Australia is still unclear.
Will we have to manage each of these lines as separate supply chains with their own information system?
How do we aggregate that to make it work is the second question.
So we have to do some systems analysis and risk assessment in terms of our defense preparedness.
Until recently, you used to have much more control; it was a slow and imperfect system, but you had control over it and you knew what you had; stocks were yours and you could measure the pace of replenishment.
The IT systems were designed for that and fit the Australian needs.
We cannot turn back to the old ways of doing business, so we have to be interoperable.
There are advantages, and we could probably not afford the JSF otherwise, so the question is how do you plug into legacy systems, which were never designed to operate that way at all and what is the impact on our preparedness and supply chain’s availability assessment.
We have to think of it as a “Fifth Generation” logistics system trying to operate with a Third generation logistics infrastructure!
The JSF is not only a Fifth Generation platform, it is also a Fifth Generation logistics system. Managing the supply chain is paradoxically at risk of becoming more complex and more compartmentalized by fleet than in the past.
The advantage of Blackburn’s analysis is that the RAAF needs to adapt its approach in order to be able to operate the F-35 as a key element for its overall expeditionary capability.
The challenge for the USAF is that they need to reach the same conclusion as Blackburn and that solutions which countries like Australia come up with as part of the overall F-35 program will be as significant as the USAF approach.
The USAF will have to demonstrate leadership in logistics innovation; not simply assume that THEY will define the global approach all by themselves. The others will not wait and will use an aircraft, which they believe is essential to their national survival.
Shaping the Way Ahead: The USMC, the USAF and Allied Air Forces as Initial Drivers of Change
It is odd that the Marines, not primarily defined by airpower, are at the center of innovation with regard to the way ahead with the F-35. They are because they are getting the plane first, have no other combat aircraft on offer, and have gone through the gut wrenching Osprey transition.
A squadron F-35B seen at Yuma on July 16, 2014. Credit Photo: Second Line of Defense
The Osprey turned out not to be a replacement for the CH-46; its was a shaper of a new USMC, one that is tiltorator enabled. It is the only tiltrotar assault force in the world; an innovation, which is far beyond anything the USAF or USN, has gone through over the past decade.
The Marines are in hurry to get the planes to Asia and to assist in their challenge redeployment in the Pacific. Combat packages are going to be so disaggregated and so distributed, that without the F-35 as a connector and battlespace protector and enabler, the Marines are at risk.
Getting the F-35B to work and be sustained at the point of attack is not a nice to have quality it is a bedrock quality for the MEUs and MAGTFs to operate effectively and prevail.
This was clear from the recent visit of the Second Line of Defense team to Yuma Air Station and visits with MAWTS-1 and VFMA-121. Because the amphibious ship is the definer of what a sustained asset really is to the Marines, the marriage of the F-35B to the large deck amphibs will be the measure of success, progress or failure for the logistics enterprise.
The USS American can provide a solid platform from which to work the logistics effort and then work backwards to the rest of the fleet. But working backwards to the rest of the fleet will be a major effort for the decade ahead.
And because allied Air Forces, especially in Pacific, have a sense of urgency about their role in national survival, they will become the natural allies of the Marines. Again, this is not the usual pattern where the USAF leads, and everyone else follows, but this will be the case in part because the Marines have the same sense of urgency that allied air forces have in the Pacific.
It is clear from discussions at Yuma that the Marines are working closely with the USAF and of course with the USN in rolling out the F-35.
But because the USMC and USAF along with foreign air forces are early users of the aircraft, this triad will drive the forging of a global system to support the F-35.
For regular updates on the F-35 and shaping a global enterprise see the following:
