DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: House To Vote On Bill That Could Kill Second F-35 Engine, USAF To Start F-35 Training

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: House To Vote On Bill That Could Kill Second F-35 Engine, USAF To Start F-35 Training

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Daily Tech

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 16, 2011: House vote could hack $450 million set aside for development of alternative F-35 engine from budget

The U.S. military has been working on the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history for years now. That program is the F-35 Lighting II (Joint Strike Fighter) that will see action eventually in all branches of the U.S. military and will find its way to allied nations as well. The F-35 program has had more than its share of setbacks, and not all of those setbacks were issues with the aircraft.

Many of the setbacks have come at the hands of lawmakers and budget cuts. The House is set to vote on a critical funding bill that has serious implications on the future of the F-35 program. The budget has a provision in it for the continued development and deployment of an alternative engine for the F-35 to go along side the Pratt & Whitney F135 jet engine. The alternative engine is from GE and Rolls Royce and will be built in Ohio, and Indiana. The F135 engine is constructed in Florida and Texas. The engine vote is under pressure because many lawmakers in the House feel that adding a second engine to the program wastes taxpayer money and the House is looking to pare all it can from the budget for the year.

The spending measure the House is voting on has $450 million set aside for the GE and Rolls-Royce engine. The thing that has defense contractors nervous is that many of the House lawmakers are in their freshman terms and haven’t yet voted on the program. That means where the votes will lie on the second engine are more unknown than in previous votes. Rep. Bob Dold, R-Ill, in his first term, said, "We have to step forward, we have to cut back on areas, and this is an area that the secretary of defense said we need to cut back on." Debate on the bill is expected to continue all week and cuts on the alternative F-35 engine aren’t the only things on the chopping block as the House looks to cut billions from the budget. The cuts will also affect the Peace Corps, the EPA, and many more programs that currently receive federal funding. The White House has already warned the House that it would mount "strong opposition" to legislation that would undermine core government functions and investments in job growth. While the future of the alternative F-35 engine in question, the F-35 program itself moves on. The Air Force has announced that it will begin to train instructor pilots on the F-35 before the end of 2011. The first F-35 aircraft will be delivered to the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base. The first round of aircraft will be the F-35A conventional take off and landing versions and 20 of the jets are expected in the first round of deliveries. Vice Adm. Dave Venlet said, "We're going to put them in the hands of the fleet and the Air Force is going to be operating [Conventional take-off and landing aircraft] in training at Eglin before the year ends." Defense News notes that it is uncommon for aircraft to be delivered to line pilots before formal operational testing is completed. However, a shortened informal test will be conducted before the 33rd pilots take delivery of the aircraft. Venlet said, "It's not a full operational test, it doesn't resolve any measures of effectiveness." Venlet also noted that he expects the F-35B STOVL aircraft will have sea-trials with the Marine Corps this fall. The F-35B has been the most trouble prone of all the aircraft and has been put on a probationary status though the aircraft has made successful vertical test landings.

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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

© Copyright (c) DTN News Defense-Technology News

DTN NEWS ON TWITTER (30 SUBJECTS)

DTN News: Lockheed Martin F-35 Begins Flying Block 1 Software

DTN News: Lockheed Martin F-35 Begins Flying Block 1 Software

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin

(NSI News Source Info) NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md., - November 16, 2010: The fundamental building block for all future avionics software on the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter has entered flight testing on an F-35 test jet.

“Block 1,” the first of three principal software-development blocks for the F-35’s mission systems, made its inaugural flight on Nov. 5 in the F-35B short takeoff/ vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft known as BF-4. The functional check flight from Naval Air Station Patuxent River lasted 1.5 hours, and all planned test points were accomplished.

“Getting this software up and flying in an F-35 is a big step in the process of validating our avionics system and ensuring that it operates in a way that gives our warfighters a clear advantage over any adversary,” said Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin F-35 program general manager. “The flight went as planned, and we look forward to expanded mission systems testing in the coming months.”

The Block 1 software will enable most of the primary sensors on the F-35, which possesses the most powerful and comprehensive mission systems package of any fighter ever to fly. Block 1 forms the foundation of all subsequent software blocks. It enables information fusion from the F-35’s radar, electronic warfare system, distributed aperture system, electro-optical targeting system and other sensors, and provides initial weapons-release capability.

Block 1 has been undergoing airborne testing since May on the Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, a highly modified 737 airliner that incorporates the entire integrated F-35 mission systems suite, including an F-35 cockpit. The test bed provides initial in-flight validation for F-35 software blocks before they are introduced into actual F-35 aircraft.

The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment.

Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Two interchangeable F-35 engines are under development: the Pratt & Whitney F135 and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 133,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s 2009 sales from continuing operations were $44.0 billion.

Media Contact:

John R. Kent Office: 817-763-3980 Mobile: 817-308-5567 Email: john.r.kent@lmco.com

For additional information, visit: www.codeonemagazine.com/f35news

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

© Copyright (c) DTN News Defense-Technology News

DTN News: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Says GE-Rolls Royce F-35 Engine Falls Short

DTN News: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Says GE-Rolls Royce F-35 Engine Falls Short * Gates opposes lawmaker efforts to keep funding engine * GE denies engine falls short on performance * Says Pentagon's ratings belie Gates's remarks * Pratt & Whitney building engine in early F-35 fighters (Rewrites first paragraph to add political context; adds Gates and GE comments, stock prices) Source: DTN News / Reuters By Jim Wolf (NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, - June 17, 2010: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said an alternate engine for the multinational F-35 fighter jet appears to fall short on performance, underlining his opposition to congressional moves to continue funding it. The Pentagon thinks that the second engine "does not meet, probably does not meet, the performance standards that are required," Gates, who deems the engine a costly extravagance, told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. The alternate engine is being developed jointly by General Electric Co (GE.N) and Rolls-Royce Group Plc (RR.L) in a battle for a projected $100 billion engine market for the F-35. United Technologies Corp's (UTX.N) Pratt & Whitney unit builds the engine used in early F-35 production models. A GE spokesman, Rick Kennedy, disputed Gates's comments. The engine is "meeting and exceeding all performance expectations in terms of aeromechanical characteristics, temperature margins, turbine design, the control system and operability," he said. "The secretary's comments contradict the detailed assessment from the Department of Defense, which has consistently awarded very good and excellent ratings to the (second engine)," said Kennedy in an email. President Barack Obama, consistent with Gates's advice, said last month he would veto any legislation to fund a second engine for the F-35, which is being built by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N). The F-35 program is valued at up to $382.4 billion to develop and buy more than 2,400 F-35s through 2036, the Pentagon's costliest purchase ever. Obama's veto threat came after the House of Representatives adopted, on May 28, its version of a fiscal 2011 defense spending bill that included $485 million to keep the alternate engine alive. The Pentagon has sought to kill the second engine for four years, defied each time by Congress, which controls the Defense Department's purse strings. Several key lawmakers, including the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, have questioned whether Obama would use his veto over the second engine if presented with a military spending bill that delivered other important initiatives he has sought. Obama has said he would do so over either the second engine or any move to fund more Boeing Co (BA.N) C-17 cargo planes, of which the Air Force says it has more than enough. Gates cautioned lawmakers, "It would be a very serious mistake to believe the president would accept these unneeded programs simply because the authorization or appropriations legislation includes other provisions important to him and to this administration." He said the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, co-developed with Britain and seven other foreign partners, was meeting its performance parameters even though its development phase has been extended and even though the Pentagon's early purchase plans have been slowed amid efforts to put the program back on track after schedule slips and soaring costs. "What we think we have endured (in the F-35 program) is primarily management and production problems, a lack of adequate execution on the part of the Defense Department itself," Gates said. Kennedy, the GE spokesman, also disputed Gates's estimate that the second engine would cost at least $2.9 billion more to develop. The company has put the figure at another $1 billion. In another point of contention, Gates suggested the GE-led team had lost a competition to Pratt & Whitney, an analysis strongly rejected by GE, Rolls-Royce and their supporters in Congress. "My view is a competition is winner-take-all," Gates said. "And I think we've had that competition and it's time to move on with the program." GE and Rolls-Royce, in a statement last month, denounced such a view as "the oldest myth of the (F-35) program and totally untrue." The U.S. Air Force directed Boeing and Lockheed, which submitted competing Joint Strike Fighter designs, to both use a Pratt engine in their concept demonstrator aircraft. Congress recognized in 1996 that an engine competition for the aircraft was never held, and it authorized development funds to GE/Rolls-Royce with the intention of introducing a competing engine four years into the aircraft program, the GE-Rolls statement said. GE shares were up 0.9 percent to $15.92 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares in United Technologies were unchanged at $68.60. (Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, John Wallace and Tim Dobbyn)

DTN News: US House Defies Veto Threat, Funds 2nd F-35 Engine

DTN News: US House Defies Veto Threat, Funds 2nd F-35 Engine

* US House votes to add $485 million next year

* Victory for General Electric, Rolls-Royce

* Senate panel adds no funds

* Presidential veto if necessary to prevent funding

Source: DTN News / Reuters By Jim Wolf

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, - May 28, 2010: The U.S. House of Representatives, defying the Pentagon for a fourth straight year and a presidential veto threat, voted to preserve a second engine program for the multinational F-35 fighter jet. The House vote on Thursday contrasted with the Senate Armed Services Committee, which added no funds for the alternate, interchangeable engine in line with Pentagon wishes. The House would provide $485 million next year to continue work on the engine being built by a joint venture of General Electric Co (GE.N) and Rolls-Royce Group Plc (RR.L). Without competition, United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) would have a decades-long monopoly on the projected $100 billion engine market for the more than 3,000 F-35s due to be bought by the United States and partner countries. The issue was among the most contentious in the House's version of a defense spending bill authorizing $567 billion for core Defense Department and Energy Department national security programs in fiscal 2011, which starts Oct. 1. Just hours earlier, the Senate Armed Services Committee went the other way, adding no funds for the second engine in its version of the 2011 Defense authorization bill. Senator Joseph Lieberman, in a statement on the Senate committee's bill adopted on Thursday, said the decision not to fund the alternate engine was a victory for U.S. taxpayers. Sen. Carl Levin, the panel chairman and a second engine backer, is to hold a press conference on Friday to discuss the bill. Levin is on record as saying that he would not fight to preserve the second engine in committee, but would support it when a House-Senate conference meets to merge the companion bills. "I want to do whatever I can to advance it," Levin told Defense Daily, a trade publication, this week. "It may be better to leave it to conference if the House is going to (pass) it." The Defense Department, in response to the House vote, said this was but a step in the process and Defense Secretary Robert Gates would recommend a presidential veto if necessary to prevent funding the second engine. Earlier in the day, the White House budget office said President Barack Obama's senior advisors would recommend a presidential veto of any bill that funded what it called the "extra" engine. General Electric, in a statement, said the vote was a win for competition and a win for U.S. taxpayers. The competitive engine will save $20 billion over the 30-year span of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, it said, citing the non-partisan Government Accountability Office. Pratt & Whitney, the United Technologies unit whose engine is powering the early F-35 production models, said it was pleased with the action in the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We recognize that the legislative process has just begun, and that the issue will continue to be debated for many months," said Erin Dick, a company spokeswoman. The House Armed Services Committee, in its recommendation to the full House, cited a "significant" national-security risk in case of a single engine for the F-35, which is to make up 95 percent of the U.S. tactical fighter fleet. "The Committee believes it is unwarranted to risk grounding our entire fleet and incurring billions of dollars in unnecessary costs by cutting the second engine, particularly when there may be no additional cost over the life of the program," it said last week.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Michael Perry)

DTN News: General Electric Co, Rolls-Royce Group PLC Offering Fixed-Price On F-35 Engines

DTN News: General Electric Co, Rolls-Royce Group PLC Offering Fixed-Price On F-35 Engines * GE, Rolls scramble to shore up support for 2nd engine

* Offer on about 100 engines in low-rate production run

* 2nd GE-Rolls test engine offline after sensor incident

*Source: DTN News / Reuters By Andrea Shalal-Esa

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, USA - September 2, 2009: General Electric Co (GE.N) and Rolls-Royce Group PLC (RR.L) representatives met top Pentagon officials on Tuesday to offer a fixed-price deal on about 100 low-rate production engines for the F-35 fighter. GE and Rolls-Royce are scrambling to shore up support for the second F-35 engine program, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Barack Obama have singled out as unnecessary in the tightening budget environment. "We have to demonstrate true savings on the Joint Strike Fighter program. We have to show that by financing a second engine that it will more than pay for itself over time," GE spokesman Rick Kennedy told Reuters. He said the deal would cover low-rate production engines to be built from 2012 to 2015. Without the F-35 business, GE would be out of the large fighter engine business, he said. Gates reiterated his opposition to the second engine on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas where Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) builds the F-35. He said Obama's advisers would recommend a veto if the fiscal 2010 budget had second engine funding. Lawmakers who back the program argue that continuing work on a second engine will provide competition and lower costs on the massive $300 billion fighter program in the long run. Kennedy called the unsolicited fixed-price offer a "huge commitment" for the companies given that the F136 engine is still in development. Under such a deal, GE and Rolls would pay for any unexpected problems that arose, unlike a cost-plus deal in which those costs would be shared with the government. That could be significant, given that Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N), has seen the cost of development on its F135 engine soar by nearly $1.9 billion since 2002, according to the House Armed Services Committee. The F135 engine for the short takeoff vertical landing version of the fighter needed engineering changes after problems arose during testing several years ago. Pratt last week said it was investing a considerable amount in engineering changes and improved production processes to drive the engine's cost lower in the longer term. Marine Corps Brigadier General David Heinz last month cited significant cost growth on the 30-year estimate for the Pratt engine, saying it was slated to rise to $8.3 million per engine from $6.7 million, the biggest increase since 2001. Heinz has said he backs the president's drive to stop funding the second engine, but in June he said competition for the engine could lower costs and bring faster technology development, while averting the risk of fleet-wide grounding.

Lockheed Martin F-35 Production, Testing And International Participation Shift Into High Gear In 2009

Lockheed Martin F-35 Production, Testing And International Participation Shift Into High Gear In 2009

(NSI News Source Info) ORLANDO, Fla. - February 27, 2009: In a single calendar year, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II program will complete all remaining System Development and Demonstration aircraft, deliver the first production-model F-35s to the armed services and initiate full-scale flight test operations at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable military strike fighter, a multirole aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air defense missions. The F-35 has three different models; one is the conventional takeoff and landing variant, the second is short takeoff and vertical-landing variant, and the third is a carrier-based variant. The F-35 is descended from the X-35, the product of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Its development is being principally funded by the United States, with the United Kingdom, and other partner governments providing additional funding. It is being designed and built by an aerospace industry team led by Lockheed Martin with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems as major partners. Demonstrator aircraft flew in 2000, with the first flight on 15 December 2006. "Two-thousand nine is shaping up to be a year of firsts for the F-35 program, with the first flight of our F-35C carrier variant, the first vertical landing of our F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant, the first stand-ups of our test sites as Edwards and Pax River, the first training aircraft delivered to the U.S. Air Force and the first F-35 orders from our international partners," said Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager, speaking at the Air Force Association's 2009 Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. "Already, we have delivered eight of 19 SDD jets, and we are moving aircraft off the assembly line at a rate of about one per month, a pace that continues to accelerate." Additionally, the program will continue to validate the F-35's highly evolved mission systems software and hardware by adding to the more than 1,100 hours of flight testing and 115,000 hours of laboratory testing already completed. The initiation of flight testing for the first mission-systems-equipped F-35 will reinforce technical risk reduction efforts for the most powerful and comprehensive avionics system ever packaged into a fighter. "As we mature the F-35, we continue to see evidence of ever-strengthening customer support - in the U.S. Air Force's request for stepped-up production, in the U.S. Navy's call for reinstatement of three early-production F-35Cs, and in Norway's and the Netherlands' endorsement of the F-35 as their future fighter," Crowley said. "We will see more of the same in 2009, as we prove out the Lightning II's capabilities, and as our international partners begin ordering their first airplanes." The F-35, a supersonic, 5th generation stealth aircraft, is the world's most advanced multi-role fighter. Three F-35 variants derived from a common design, developed together and using the same sustainment infrastructure worldwide, will replace at least 13 types of aircraft for 11 nations initially, making the Lightning II the most cost-effective fighter program in history. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development: the Pratt&Whitney F135 and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

Lockheed Rolls Out First Avionics-Equipped F-35 / First Avionics-Equipped F-35 Rolls Out at Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Rolls Out First Avionics-Equipped F-35 / First Avionics-Equipped F-35 Rolls Out at Lockheed Martin

(NSI News Source Info) FORT WORTH, Texas - January 26, 2009: Lockheed Martin has completed the first F-35 Lightning II equipped with mission systems, a milestone that will lead to the first avionics testing on board an F-35 aircraft.

The short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) F-35 variant left the factory on Wednesday, Jan. 21, and goes to the fuel facility for functional fuel system checks before it is scheduled for delivery to the flight line by the end of January. Its first flight is expected this summer.

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable military strike fighter, a multirole aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air superiority fighter missions. The F-35 has three different models; one is the conventional takeoff and landing variant, the second is short takeoff and vertical-landing variant, and the third is a carrier-based variant. The F-35 is descended from the X-35, the product of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Its development is being principally funded by the United States, with the United Kingdom, and other partner governments providing additional funding. It is being designed and built by an aerospace industry team led by Lockheed Martin with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems as major partners. Demonstrator aircraft flew in 2000, with the first flight on 15 December 2006.

Mission systems, or avionics, are the on-board sensors that enable the aircraft to detect, locate, identify, track and target adversaries from long ranges; detect fast-moving incoming threats such as missiles; and receive and transmit large amounts of battle-space information through secure data links. These 5th generation sensors and data links will be integral to providing the warfighter in the air and on the ground a fused picture of the battlespace.

"Testing of this aircraft will represent the fourth tier of our avionics validation process, comprising ground-based laboratory testing, airborne lab testing of individual sensors on surrogate aircraft, airborne testing of the fully integrated mission systems package on the Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, and, finally, airborne testing of the integrated system on an actual F-35," said Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager.

The aircraft, called BF-4, will carry the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar and Integrated Communications, Navigation and Identification suite, and the BAE Systems Electronic Warfare system. The Block 0.5 mission systems software, which incorporates more than half of the combat-ready Block 3 software, will drive the system. BF-4 will be updated with additional equipment and software through Block 3, the last block in the System Development and Demonstration program.

The jet is the latest addition to the fleet of five F-35s already undergoing testing. Earlier aircraft are validating F-35 subsystems and flying qualities while retiring technical risk. BF-4's first flight is planned for mid-year 2009, following a comprehensive series of ground tests. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development: the Pratt & Whitney F135 and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136.

DTN News: Aircraft Lessor DAE Capital Signs Firm Order for 100 Airbus Aircraft

DTN News: Aircraft Lessor DAE Capital Signs Firm Order for 100 Airbus Aircraft (NSI News Source Info) PARIS - July 16, 2008: DAE Capital, the aircraft leasing and financing division of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), has signed a firm contract for the purchase of 30 Airbus A350-900 and 70 Airbus A320 aircraft.

The contract follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed at the Dubai air show in November 2007.

DAE Capital aims to become a leading lessor based in the Middle East. DAE Capital’s parent company DAE is a fast developing global aerospace company with activities including airport development and operations, engineering, manufacturing and services.

“DAE Capital has built a business from ground-up and has made impressive progress since its launch. With our industry-experienced management team and well-defined road map DAE Capital will become one of the top leasing companies globally,” stated Bob Genise, CEO of DAE Capital.

“DAE’s order is a tremendous endorsement of our aircraft products and in Airbus and we thank them for this. The A350 XWB and the A320 products are leaders in their class. Airbus looks forward to building on this partnership in the years to come,” said Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO.

The A320 Family, which includes the A318, A319, A320 and A321, is recognized as the benchmark single-aisle aircraft family. Each aircraft features fly by wire controls and all share a unique cockpit and operational commonality across the range.

Around 6,200 Airbus A320 Family aircraft have been sold and more than 3,500 delivered to some 280 customers and operators worldwide, making it the worlds best selling commercial jetliner ever.

With proven reliability and extended servicing periods, the A320 Family has the lowest operating costs of any single aisle aircraft. Uniquely, the A320 Family offers a containerized cargo system, which is compatible with the world-wide standard wide-body system.

The A350 XWB (Xtra Wide-Body) Family is Airbus’ response to widespread market demand for a series of highly efficient medium-capacity long-range wide-body aircraft.

With a range of up to 8,300 nm / 15,400 km, it is available in three basic passenger versions: the A350-800 accommodating 270 passengers, the A350-900 seating 314, and the A350-1000 for 350 passengers in a typical three-class layout.

The A350 has the widest fuselage in its category, offering unprecedented levels of comfort, the lowest operating costs and lowest seat mile cost of any aircraft in this market segment.

Powered by two new generation Rolls Royce Trent XWB engines delivering each up to 92,000 lbs of thrust, the A350 XWB Family is designed to confront the challenges of high fuel prices, rising passenger expectations, and environmental concerns.

Orders for the aircraft stand at more than 350 from over 20 customers. Airbus is an EADS company.