The Navy’s could potentially miss its 2018 deadline for having its F-35 software in place, but it won’t result in cost increases, according to the Defense Department’s program leader.
F-35 Program Executive Officer Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan testified Tuesday if DoD doesn’t change or improve the way it is doing business today, it will be four-to-six months late of hitting the Navy’s August 2018 initial operational capability (IOC) goal with software Block 3F, both the final block and full software capability. But because he has until 2018 to try to fix that delay, Bogdan said he was hesitate to formally announce a delay.
Bogdan said the Navy’s potential software delay won’t result in increased costs because DoD, prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT] and F135 engine provider Pratt & Whitney have management reserve resulting from when the program was rebaselined with more realistic budget and schedules in 2010. Bogdan said the three stakeholders have management reserve to cover the delay. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX]
Bogdan told the Senate Armed Services (SASC) airland subcommittee he was confident he could solve the Navy’s software problem, saying each and every increment of software put in the field over the last 18 months has been “on time with the capability we expected.” Bogdan also cited operational test airplanes that can be used to help finish the development program by doing some extra testing. There are three F-35 software blocks: the first, 2B; second, 3I and third, 3F.
F-35 critic John McCain (R-Ariz.) challenged Bogdan on using operational test aircraft to help shorten development time, asking if that was already tried during concurrency, a troubling time for the F-35 program. Bogdan said though operational test aircraft was part of the problem during concurrency, it can now be used to DoD’s advantage.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a March 24 report that delays in F-35 software development and testing may delay the Marine Corps’ F-35B variant from reaching IOC by July 2015 and could even slip the Navy and Air Force variants, while increasing the cost of the overall program (Defense Daily, March 24).
Northrop Grumman [NOC] and BAE Systems are also subcontractors on the F-35 program.