{"id":1231,"date":"2020-09-24T20:38:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T18:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/?p=1231"},"modified":"2020-09-25T20:38:59","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T18:38:59","slug":"f-35s-lure-buyers-as-a-question-looms-how-will-it-do-in-combat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/f-35s-lure-buyers-as-a-question-looms-how-will-it-do-in-combat\/","title":{"rendered":"F-35s Lure Buyers as a Question Looms: How Will It Do in Combat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

F-35s Lure Buyers as a Question Looms: How Will It Do in Combat?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony Capaccio24. September 2020, 10:00 MESZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35A jet flies during a training mission in Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Photographer: George Frey\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lockheed Martin Corp.\u2019s F-35 has deployed from the Gulf of Aden to Alaska and is coveted by would-be buyers led by the United Arab Emirates. But the simulated combat testing needed to tell how well it would fare against Russian, Chinese or Iranian air defenses may be delayed yet again.<\/p>\n

The intensive combat simulation testing of the fighter jet, which was supposed to occur in 2017 and most recently was set for this December, is almost certain to slip into next year because of difficulties finishing technical preparations, according to the Pentagon\u2019s weapons buyer and testing office.<\/p>\n

Resolution of \u201cdefects\u201d in the simulation set-up \u201cwill likely drive\u201d the tests into next year, Jessica Maxwell, a spokeswoman for Ellen Lord, the Defense Department\u2019s undersecretary for acquisition, said in an email. It\u2019s the latest twist in a 19-year-long tale of setbacks spawned by the decision to build the Pentagon\u2019s most expensive weapons program ever even as it\u2019s still being developed.<\/p>\n

The one-month, 64-sortie \u201cJoint Simulation Environment\u201d exercise will use a full replica of the F-35 cockpit rigged with its combat sensors and electronics. A pilot at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, will operate in a fully functioning simulator with a 360-degree view that depicts classified air and ground threats and incorporates allied aircraft as well.<\/p>\n

The exercise will be the capstone of a testing regime required by U.S. law before Lockheed can proceed into full-rate production and assure customers from South Korea to Poland that the plane is effective and can be maintained. Most recently, the UAE is seeking U.S. approval to buy F-35s now that it has signed on to an accord with Israel engineered by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

Full-Rate Production<\/p>\n

The testing is also a key hurdle before the Pentagon can buy the bulk of the aircraft destined for the U.S. military. The decision on full-rate production was supposed to occur in March, but that deadline, as well as the completion of all testing for it, \u201cremain high risk,\u201d Maxwell, the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect to make a decision in October\u201d about the schedule after a Pentagon Defense Acquisition Board review, Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

Versions of the F-35 already have flown hundreds of aerial exercises, deployed for overseas operations by the Marines and Air Force and attacked Taliban targets in Afghanistan. The Air Force\u2019s 356th Fighter Squadron of F-35A jets is stationed at Eielson Air Base in Alaska, on alert for Asia missions against Russia or China.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s happening even though the $398 billion fighter program hasn\u2019t been evaluated in the simulations intended to challenge the planes beyond the most stressful threats likely to occur in real-world flying.<\/p>\n

The Defense Department\u2019s F-35 program office is reevaluating the schedule \u201cbased on feedback from the test community related to minimum acceptable required capabilities within the simulation facility,\u201d said spokeswoman Brandi Schiff.<\/p>\n

Lord and Robert Behler, the Pentagon\u2019s top testing official, visited the testing facility on Aug. 25 \u201cto better understand progress and where help is needed to complete\u201d the testing, Maxwell said. Behler said in a statement that chances are \u201cextremely low\u201d that the simulations will be completed in December.<\/p>\n

China Challenge<\/p>\n

In a prime example of the challenges the F-35 could face, the Pentagon\u2019s latest annual report on China\u2019s military capabilities says \u201cit has one of the world\u2019s largest forces of advanced long-range surface-to-air systems — including Russian-built S-400s, S-300s, and domestically produced systems — that constitute part of its robust and redundant integrated air defense system architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The simulation exercise to test the F-35 was supposed to be ready three years ago, but \u201cthe program has struggled to develop the complex software and functionality needed to complete\u201d it, the Government Accountability Office said in its annual program report in April.<\/p>\n

Behler, the testing chief, said that he wasn\u2019t considering canceling the simulation sorties. Because of the \u201cinherent limitations of open-air testing,\u201d the simulation facility \u201cis the only venue available, other than actual combat against peer adversaries, to adequately evaluate the F-35 against modern airborne and surface threats in realistic densities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Once all the testing is complete, it will take an additional two to three months to \u201ctransfer and analyze the data, and then draft\u201d the final report for delivery to Pentagon leaders and Congress, Behler said previously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

F-35s Lure Buyers as a Question Looms: How Will It Do in Combat? Anthony Capaccio24. September 2020, 10:00 MESZ Lockheed Martin Corp.\u2019s F-35 has deployed from the Gulf of Aden to Alaska and is coveted by would-be buyers led by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1231"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luftverteidigung.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}