F-35 program finishes years-late tests needed for full production

WASHINGTON — The F-35 program has accomplished a long-delayed series of crucial tests, which could pave the best way for a choice next 12 months to officially move the advanced fighter jet into full-rate production.

The Joint Simulation Environment tests, referred to as “runs for rating,” were finished Sept. 21, as was the initial trial validation, F-35 Joint Program Office spokesman Russell Goemaere said in an email to Defense News Friday.

The Pentagon’s Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, will now analyze the information collected within the tests, which were conducted through much of September. DOT&E’s report on the F-35′s performance within the JSE tests could possibly be delivered to Pentagon leaders by the top of December.

The Joint Simulation Environment’s 64 test trials at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland were designed to place all three versions of the F-35 through quite a lot of in-depth scenarios, just like situations they might likely encounter in real-world combat.

DOT&E said in a report released in January that those scenarios would come with defensive counter-air, cruise missile defense, and combined offensive counter-air, air interdiction and destruction of enemy air defense trials.

The completion of the JSE tests marks a vital step for this system — one which is required before the F-35′s initial operational test and evaluation phase might be closed, and the Pentagon could make a Milestone C decision that officially authorizes it to enter full rate production.

In an interview with Air and Space Forces Magazine this month, the top of the F-35 program, Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt said a Milestone C decision would likely be made in early 2024. But Schmidt acknowledged to the magazine that the fighter is already being built at nearly full capability, muting the effect a full-rate production authorization would have. Lockheed Martin typically goals to construct roughly 150 F-35s annually.

The watchdog Project on Government Oversight has criticized the Pentagon for producing F-35s as if it were already in full-rate production, before such crucial tests were accomplished. POGO analyst Dan Grazier told Defense News earlier this 12 months that if the F-35′s testing finds problems with the fighter before a full-rate production decision is officially made, it will mean lots of of fighters already built and in use may wish extensive retrofitting.

The Pentagon originally hoped to make a Milestone C decision on the F-35 in December 2019, however the deadline repeatedly slipped because the setup of the Joint Simulation Environment fell further behind schedule.

Creating the simulation environment proved difficult for the department, and the Pentagon struggled with the verification, validation and accreditation process. The tests fell years behind schedule.

In a roundtable with reporters on the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air Space Cyber conference earlier this month, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he was confident the JSE would allow the F-35 to undergo the tests it needs, and said it contained “a very remarkable set of capabilities.”

Kendall said most of the JSE test results can be classified.