The Defense Department will add 17 locations worldwide over the next five years as part of its F-35 sustainment posture, according to the head of the program.
F-35 Program Executive Office (PEO) Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan said Sept. 15 DoD “finally started accelerating” and “putting real plans in place” for a global F-35 sustainment network. Bogdan said a “good number” of these locations will be overseas and hosted by international partners and F-35 foreign military sale (FMS) customers.
“I can tell you about a year ago, that was…some kind of dream. It’s not anymore,” Bogdan told an audience here at the 2014 Air and Space Conference hosted by the Air Force Association. “We have parts, plants (and) we have a way to do it.”
In addition to the United States, F-35 partner nations include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom and South Korea.
Bogdan didn’t provide any additional details on DoD’s current F-35 sustainment posture. A request for comment made with DoD’s F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) was not returned by press time.
Bogdan also said the F-35B Marine Corps variant should be able to fly through lightning next summer in time for its initial operational capability (IOC) declaration, an issue which he said was fodder at previous Air and Space conferences. Bogdan said the lightning issue, along with previous helmet, fuel dump and F-35C carrier variant arresting hook issues, have been resolved.
“Those risks that were a big deal a year ago, two years ago, (are) not such a big deal now,” Bogdan said.
Though those major issues from years ago have been resolved, Bogdan cautioned that the F-35 program was “not out of the woods.” Bogdan said engine problems, especially with the F-35B, have been a challenge to solve. DoD, earlier this summer, temporarily grounded its F-35 fleet due to structural cracking. The F135 engine has also had reliability and maintainability problems, Bogdan said.
The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT] with subcontractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman [NOC]. The F135 engine is developed by Pratt and Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX]