The Defense Department said Tuesday it has officially made its long-awaited decision to maneuver forward with full-rate production on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
William LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, signed a memo approving a Milestone C decision and full-rate production earlier within the day, the Pentagon said in a press release. The Defense Acquisition Board, which LaPlante chairs, met on March 7 to think about whether to maneuver the F-35 into full-rate production.
“It is a major achievement for the F-35 program,” LaPlante said within the statement. “This decision — backed by my colleagues within the department — highlights to the services, F-35 cooperative program partners, and foreign military sales customers that the F-35 is stable and agile, and that every one statutory and regulatory requirements have been appropriately addressed.”
The choice got here greater than 4 years after the Pentagon originally planned, and followed multiple years of delays because of troubles organising the obligatory Joint Simulation Environment tests.
The Pentagon said that the Milestone C approval sets the F-35 program as much as “efficiently produce and deliver the following generation” of jets. Before the jet could move into full-rate production, the department said this system needed control of its manufacturing process, acceptable performance and reliability, and for adequate sustainment and support systems to be established.
Lockheed Martin is already constructing F-35s at essentially full capability, producing about 150 of the jets every year. This implies authorizing the F-35 for full-rate production will likely have a somewhat muted effect on what number of jets are built.
“The F-35 enterprise has made significant improvements during the last decade, and we are going to at all times be driven to constantly improve sustainability, interoperability, and lethality so warfighters have the aptitude needed to fight and win when called to accomplish that,” F-35 program executive officer Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt said. “Furthermore, this system and our great people can now concentrate on the long run of the F-35 as a substitute of the past.”
The F-35 accomplished the series of Joint Simulation Environment tests often known as “runs for rating” in September. Those 64 tests, carried out at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, put all three versions of the jet through scenarios akin to what they may encounter in combat, similar to defensive counter-air, cruise missile defense, and destruction of enemy air defense trials.
The Pentagon’s Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, then analyzed the information collected within the F-35′s tests and produced a report used to reach on the milestone C decision.
Raymond O’Toole, acting director of operational test and evaluation, said his office had some concerns and suggestions, which this system is now working to deal with. One such concern was the necessity to improve test infrastructure that may be used to support the jet’s development, and be sure that future upgrades often known as Block 4 may be tested.
Greater than 990 F-35s have to date been delivered to the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, allies, and foreign military sales customers.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.