ORLANDO, Fla.–Rumors of Canada wanting out of the F-35 program may diminish after a Lockheed Martin [LMT] executive said Thursday the nation will continue to pay into the system design and development (SDD) portion of the fighter jet program.
“As far as I’m concerned, they’re still part of the program and we’re doing everything we can to provide the info they need to make their decision,” Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President and General Manager of F-35 Jeff Babione told reporters here at the Air Force Association’s (AFA) Air Warfare Symposium.
Canada was rumored to want out of the F-35 program when Justin Trudeau, from the Liberal Party, was elected prime minister. The program’s expense became a campaign issue in Canada’s election season and Trudeau spoke out against the program. Babione said SDD for the F-35 program culminates in 2017.
System design and development is a key stage in the creation of a weapon system. System design is the process of defining the components, modules, interfaces and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements. System development is the process of creating or altering systems, along with the processes, practices, models and methodologies used to develop them.
Babione said Lockheed Martin and the Defense Department continue to negotiate the next batch of F-35 buys called low rate initial production (LRIP) lots 9 and 10. He said he has “high confidence” the parties will finish negotiations in the March timeframe. The two lots together will total nearly 150 jets and could be worth nearly $15 billion, DoD F-35 Program Executive Officer Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan said recently (Defense Daily, February 11).
Lockheed Martin spokesman Mike Rein said the company is performing a modification to one of the aircraft that will be used for initial operational capability (IOC) in August to correct a fuel tank overpressurization issue. There is potential for air in the fuel system to overpressurize the fuel tanks beyond design limits. If air in the fuel system is overpressurized to the point of structural failure, the fuel tank could leak. This issue was first discovered in late 2014 and was confirmed via flight test in early 2015 (Defense Daily, January 19).
Lockheed Martin this summer will issue a new major update of its Automated Logistics Information System (ALIS) sustainment infrastructure, version 2.0.2, while also issuing intermittent updates. Babione said these intermittent updates, called service packs, provide upgrades in usability to make ALIS more user-friendly. He said the service packs don’t include any major changes in capability. Service packs are being issued quarterly.
Babione said Lockheed Martin is working through a fix to the F-35’s Block 3i software on an IOC aircraft and could test it in the latter part of March. Rein, the Lockheed Martin spokesman, said this “fine tuning” involves the timing of radar in different modes with sensors working together.
Rein said when the timing gets misaligned, the system slows down and could shut the radar down, causing the company to reboot the radar. Rein said Lockheed Martin has until May to completely fix this and the company is confident it will fix the issue. Babione said the Air Force has the option of using the Block 3i software for IOC or it can use an older software version.
Babione succeeded Lorraine Martin in late October as Lockheed Martin’s top F-35 executive. Martin was appointed to the newly-created position of deputy executive vice president for mission systems and training. The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin with prime contractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman [NOC].