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Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Why Declaring F-35 Initial Operating Capability Is Meaningless

Why Declaring F-35 Initial Operating Capability Is Meaningless
(Source: Defense-Aerospace.com; published July 26, 2016)
By Giovanni de Briganti
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/175797/why-declaring-f_35-initial-operating-capability-is-meaningless.html

PARIS --- The US Air Force’s plan to declare Initial Operating Capability
(IOC) of the Lockheed Martin F-35A fighter is virtually meaningless because,
as was the case for the Marine Corps, it is primarily a public relations
exercise.

The Marines declared IOC for the F-35B STOVL variant in July 2015 – a full
year ago – yet the aircraft has since done little more than attend air
shows, while continuing to carry out the same training missions as before
IOC.

At the time, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Commandant of the Marine Corps, said the
first F-35B squadron was “capable of conducting Close Air Support, Offensive
and Defensive Counter Air, Air Interdiction, Assault Support Escort and
Armed Reconnaissance as part of a Marine Air Ground Task Force, or in
support of the Joint Force,” but in 13 months is has done none of that.

The squadron of 10 F-35Bs was also said to be “ready for world-wide
deployment;” but to date has flown only once to the UK to attend air shows
where its in-flight displays were noticeably tame.

In other words, declaring IOC has made no discernible difference to F-35B
operations, and that is why, despite martial declarations by Marine Corps
and Pentagon officials, the “operationally capable” F-35Bs have not, to
date, carried out any operational missions at all.

The reason is that, as we reported on May 13, the “Marines Declared F-35 IOC
Despite Deficiencies That “Preclude Mission Readiness. ”

And this is why, ten months later, on May 12, 2016, the Pentagon was forced
to award a specific contract “to procure 61 retrofit kits to correct
deficiencies that preclude aircraft mission readiness” (Emphasis added—Ed.)
“in support of the Marine F-35 Strike Fighter aircraft initial operating
capabilities.”

It is worth noting that the contract is to be completed in January 2019, or
practically three years of work, so these are not minor modifications by any
stretch of the imagination.

In other words, the Marines declared IOC despite “deficiencies that preclude
IOC.” This means that the IOC statement was at the very least misleading,
and perhaps even worse, as it entailed a general officer making a statement
that subsequently proved to be false.

There is also more than a whiff of suspicion that IOC was made despite known
“aircraft deficiencies that preclude aircraft mission readiness,” because it
is unthinkable that IOC would be declared with aircraft whose
operationability had not been previously certified by the manufacturer and
verified by the Joint Program Office.

It also is unthinkable that these deficiencies -- significant enough to
“preclude” IOC -- could have gone undetected during the “five-day
Operational Readiness Inspection, which concluded July 17,” and which the
Marine Corps mentioned in its IOC statement.

So the inescapable conclusion is either that the IOC statement was knowingly
false, or that the JPO, the Pentagon acquisition bureaucracy and the Marine
Corps are so incompetent they did not spot deficiencies big enough the
preclude IOC.

And, in this case, what can lead anyone to believe that they will be better
at catching major deficiencies this time around?

In many countries, a public servant who knowingly makes a false statement is
liable for punishment, but in this case the director of the F-35 Joint
Program Office and the Pentagon’s Undersecretary for Acquisition are both
still in place, while the Marine Corps Commandant who declared IOC was
promoted to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

It is most fortunate for all involved that there have been so many stories
about the F-35’s technical and operational deficiencies, and its stupendous
cost overruns, that this particular aspect of its career has dissolved into
the mass of negative reports.

But this is not reason enough for it to be overlooked.

On the contrary, it should encourage all parties involved to take a very
close and very detailed look at the Air Force’s IOC declaration, that is
expected any time between now and the end of the year.

(ends)

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