By Emelie Rutherford

A Marine Corps official acknowledged yesterday much work must be done before his service’s version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter reaches initial operational capability (IOC) in December 2012, a date he said could change.

Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt. Gen. George Trautman said the Marine Corps’ F-35 IOC date was not delayed during a recent program restructuring because aircraft the service needs to achieve that operational milestone–five for testing, 15 for a fleet-readiness squadron, and 10 for the initial squadron–have been procured.

Still, Trautman told the Senate Armed Services Airland subcommittee: “We realize we have a lot of work to do between now and December 2012.”

“We’re not naive about what it will take to stand up an initial operational capability of our first squadron,” he said.

“First and foremost,” he added, industry has to deliver the airplanes on time and “create the sorties that generate the test points that are demanded of us.”

“If we reach December of 2012 and we have not accommodated all of the things that we need–in regard to training, aircraft capability, logistics support, shipboard compatibility–we will not declare initial operational capability,” Trautman said. “We will wait until we attain those objectives.”

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The Marine Corps, which is developing a short-takeoff, vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35, is the first service slated to receive the Lockheed Martin [LMT] fifth-generation fighter.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced in February the Pentagon extended the 2,443-aircraft program’s development phase and reduced the number of production aircraft to be delivered in the early years. This F-35 restructuring was spurred by schedule delays, cost growth, and technical problems with the massive aircraft program.

While the restructuring did not change the Marine Corps’ F-35 IOC date, the rejiggering delayed the Navy and Air Force’s F-35 IOCs until 2016, Pentagon officials revealed in March. Previously, the Air Force’s IOC was pegged for second quarter of 2013 and the Navy’s date was the fourth quarter of 2014.

The Air Force’s “best estimate” for its F-35 IOC is the first quarter of 2016, Maj. Gen. Johnny Weida, Air Force assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and requirements, told the Airland panel yesterday. The Navy projects an IOC in December of 2016, Rear Adm. David Philman, Navy director of air warfare, testified.

The Air Force and Navy will have Block 3 F-35s at IOC, while the Marine Corps initially will receive Block 2B versions.

Airland subcommittee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (D/I-Conn.) said he was concerned about “risks of declaring that initial operational capability before the aircraft, the Joint Strike Fighter, has received all of the capabilities intended.”

Trautman, though, told Lieberman the Marine Corps will be happy to receive the Block 2B F-35 at IOC; that aircraft, he said, will be a vast improvement over the AV-8 Harriers it will replace. The service will ensure all proper testing will be conducted before the IOC, and is “not going to do something foolhardy ” in regards to achieving that schedule, the three-star general added.

The Marine Corps plans to actually deploy its first F-35 in 2014, Trautman said; by that time, he added, “we’ll have a Block 3C airplane if the program stays on track as currently laid out.”

The F-35 restructuring impacted the Marine Corps by slowing down the ramp of its squadrons after the initial one. The date for standing up the service’s second F-35 squadron was delayed by six months, Trautman said.

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