New Flaw Delays F-35 Operational Testing to 2020

F-35 Testing Delays Continue, Even as Aircraft Has Made Its Combat Debut (excerpt)

(Source: Military.com; posted Sept. 27, 2019)

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will not complete its already-delayed formal operational test phase this fall because of a setback in the testing process, according to a source close to the program.

While the F-35 Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) was supposed to be complete by late summer, a source with knowledge of its development said the testing is still incomplete due to an unfinished phase known as the Joint Simulation Environment.

The JSE simulations project characteristics such as weather, geography and range, allowing test pilots to prove the aircraft's "full capabilities against the full range of required threats and scenarios," according to a 2015 Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) report.

The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), in coordination with the Defense Department, confirmed that the Joint Simulation Environment testing phase is still being worked through, but could not provide a timeline for its completion.

"This final phase of IOT&E will occur when the JSE is ready to adequately complete the testing," DoD spokesman Air Force Lt. Col Mike Andrews said in a statement Wednesday. "The JSE is required to adequately perform F-35 IOT&E against modern adversary aircraft and dense ground threats in realistic scenarios." (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on the Military.com website.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: While the Joint Simulation Environment is blamed for causing the delay in the IOT&E, such a delay was expected since POGO in August revealed that the 23 F-35 aircraft of the IOT&E fleet were averaging an 11% availability rate, instead of the 80% required to complete operational testing within the allotted nine-month time-frame.
Unless the planned tests are cut short, it is difficult to see how the test fleet could have flown enough hours to allow completion of the full test schedule, which is a legal requirement before the program can move into full-scale production.)

-ends-

Let's block ads! (Why?)



from Defense Aerospace - Press releases https://ift.tt/2ow7fFL
via Defense

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Oryx Handbook of Iranian Drones

Image
The goal of this list is to comprehensively catalogue Iran's past and current inventory of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their armament. In an effort to streamline the list and avoid unnecessary confusion, this list only includes military drones associated with Iran's defence industry or military-grade UAVs with at least some chance of entering service. Notes:  - If several configurations of a drone with one designation are known, they are added as such.  - The part within the apostrophes refers to other designations or an unofficial designation. -  UAVs that did not enter service or have yet to enter service have been placed in the prototype category. - When a type is dual-capable, it is added in both respective categories. - Dubious claims are referred to as ''claimed to be capable''. - Although several types of Iranian UAVs have been sighted in Syria and Iraq, the foreign service section of this handbook only includes those confirmed to be in s
Read more

This Equation Shows You Can't Quantify Everything

Image
Yeah, I used a clickbaity headline. So sue me. Recently I went on an extensive rant about the fundamental assumptions of science. One of them, I said, was that things have to be measurable. And that's basically true, I think... but there are interesting subtleties. You might well be familiar with the weirdness of the quantum realms, as in the double-slit experiment where "particles" can apparently be in two places at once. What you might be less aware of is that much, much larger things can be just as hard to measure. You really don't need carefully controlled laboratory conditions to see how bizarre reality can get. Measuring some things is hard... In astronomy, if you're hunting for galaxies in a new data set, you have to try and estimate these things called completeness and reliability . They're quite simple concepts but they have very strict meanings - thankfully, for once, quite intuitive ones. Consider a naturalist trying to identify some meerk
Read more

Andrew Wyeth: Home Places

Image
  THE BRANDYWINE   FEBRUARY 4–JULY 13, 2023 Andrew Wyeth, Swifts – First Version, 1991, watercolor on paper. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art B3122r © Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS)  Opening at the Brandywine Museum of Art on February 4, 2023,  Andrew Wyeth: Home Places  presents nearly 50 paintings and drawings of local buildings that inspired Wyeth time and again over seven decades of his career. The artworks in this exhibition are drawn exclusively from the nearly 7,000-object Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, now managed by the Brandywine. Many of these pieces have never before been exhibited, offering a first glimpse at a significant treasure trove that will shed new light on the collaborative creative process of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth. Andrew Wyeth, Widow’s Walk Study, 1990, watercolor and pencil on paper. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art B3144 © Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Socie
Read more