By Marina Malenic
EGLIN AFB, Fla.— Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps trainers are counting on the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production model aircraft to roll off the Lockheed Martin [LMT] line in Fort Worth, Texas, in November to begin flight training by the end of the year, military officials here said yesterday.
“We’re banking on November right now, because we’re going to be ready to fly by September 1,” Air Force Col. David Hlatky, commander of the 33rd fighter wing at Eglin, told reporters.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced in February an extension of the 2,443-aircraft program’s development phase and a reduction in the number of production aircraft to be delivered in the early years. Instead, Gates ordered that the number of test articles be increased. The restructuring was spurred by schedule delays and cost growth in the Pentagon’s largest weapons acquisition, believed to be worth upward of $330 billion over the life of the program.
Marine Col. Art Tomassetti, the vice wing commander at Eglin, said the unit is working hard to lay the groundwork for training the first pilot and maintenance trainers.
“In order for us to meet our requirements to deliver those…trained pilots and maintainers, we’ve got to make sure that everything’s ready this summer,” he said.
“Pretty soon, we have to start providing stand-up capabilities to external customers,” he added. “We’ve got to produce our own cadre of pilots and maintainers, and we have to start producing for the services and our international partners.”
Eglin officials said the group is focused on the training mission, despite delays in several major F-35 program milestones.
“Whatever is going on in the program around us, we’re still marching to have those things done,” Tomassetti said.
For example, the program restructure has delayed the Navy and Air Force’s F-35 initial operational capability (IOC) dates–the point at which the service would be able to deploy the aircraft in combat–until 2016, Pentagon officials revealed in March. Hlatky said that change has not affected the work going on at Eglin yet.
“I’m intentionally not getting bogged down on an IOC date, because I’ve just finished convincing our team to stop looking at the calendar,” he said. “We’re not chasing that [IOC date] right now.
“Unless there’s some major event that no one can imagine, we’re going to have jets in the fall,” he added. “But chasing an airplane is the wrong way to get ready to put this system together.”
Previously, the Air Force’s IOC was pegged for second quarter of 2013, and the Navy’s date was the fourth quarter of 2014. They have both been adjusted to 2016.
The Marine Corps, which is developing a short-takeoff, vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35, is the first service slated to receive the fifth-generation fighter. Though their IOC has not been moved from 2013, Marine officials have said that date is not set in stone should the program suffer additional setbacks.
The Air Force and Navy will have Block 3 F-35s at IOC, while the Marine Corps initially will receive Block 2B versions.
Hlatky said one of his biggest concerns is hurricane season. He said a large hurricane this summer is the one event that could lead to a work stoppage, as schoolhouses, hangars and other structures are being constructed on base.
Another concern is a potential delay in the Marine Corps’ timeline for the aircraft that would force a convergence with Navy and Air Force efforts, according to Tomassetti.
“Someday, when we are doing sustained production for the Marine Corps, we will still be providing standup capabilities for the Navy and the Air Force,” he said.
Having to do the standup of all three services at the same time “would become quite challenging,” Tomassetti added.