Extra production work caused by modifications identified during testing will cause a four-month gap in delivery cycle
With the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F/A-22's hardware and software glitches overcome for now, the focus of concern within the US Air Force programme has turned toward achieving initial operational capability (IOC)within 18 months, despite continuing production delays.
Lockheed Martin's final assembly line in Marietta, Georgia is running seven aircraft behind schedule, and this margin is expected to widen in mid-year, when it will stop deliveries for four months to alter its manufacturing process. No longer will production aircraft be delivered to the USAF in need of dozens of modifications identified during developmental testing, says Ralph Heath, the company's executive vice-president and F/A-22 programme general manager.
Until the modification package is inserted into regular assembly operations, future F/A-22s will roll off the assembly line and undergo modification in a different building before being delivered to the air force training centre at Tyndall AFB, Florida, or to the first operational squadron being organised at Langley AFB, Virginia. There are roughly 30 modifications, the bulk of them described as minor tweaks, leaving weight and internal design mostly unchanged.
The extra production work has created a four-month gap in the delivery cycle just as air force trainers begin ramping up a programme to prepare pilots assigned to the first operational unit. Five aircraft have arrived at Tyndall so far and are being shared by an initial cadre of seven F/A-22 instructor pilots. Tyndall commander Brig Gen Larry New says more aircraft are needed immediately. "The number of airplanes that are delivered to us is very critical," he says. "We need aircraft to train pilots."
The USAF has yet to define the number of F/A-22s needed to meet its December 2005 IOC requirement. An operational squadron is expected to include 24 aircraft at Langley, but industry sources believe as few as 18 may be needed to reach the IOC criteria. Lockheed Martin is confident its new manufacturing process will save time during production and speed the delivery rate, allowing the air force to meet IOC on schedule, says Heath.
Meanwhile, the F/A-22 is at the centre of a debate between US lawmakers over the programme's funding. The Senate Armed Services Committee has trimmed two aircraft and $280 million off the Pentagon's initial fiscal year 2005 budget request for 24 F/A-22s, while another version of the bill passed by the House Armed Services Committee fully funds the Pentagon's request.
The air force is, meanwhile, preparing to launch a major lobbying effort to support the F/A-22 programme, which is expected to cite the results of an air-to-air exercise staged between USAF Boeing F-15Cs and Indian air force Sukhoi Su-30MKs last February. Details of the engagements are still classified, but it is clear a poor showing by the F-15C has shaken the air force's fighter pilot community. Service leaders have claimed that US-trained pilots in Sukhoi fighters usually defeat similar pilots in F-15s and Lockheed Martin F-16s, but now appear concerned that they have lost advantages in training and equipment. The exercise "certainly had us take a step back", says New.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE / MARIETTA & TYNDALL AFB
Source: Flight International
