Pentagon acquisition chief John Young says the congressional cut to Joint Strike Fighter funding in fiscal 2009 will cause problems executing the test schedule for the program.

Congress cut advance procurement funding for the first three U.S. Navy F-35C carrier variants, which were to have been procured in FY ’10. The aircraft are planned for operational testing. “Those planes are critical,” Young told a group of reporters at the Pentagon Oct. 30.

“If we are not able to buy those airplanes we would potentially have to set up two separate operational tests,” Young says. “That would guarantee a schedule slip and a more costly dual operational test program.”

Congress provided funding for 14 Joint Strike Fighters in the FY ’09 budget, a mix of conventional U.S Air Force F-35As and U.S. Marine Corps short takeoff vertical landing F-35Bs, but deferred two aircraft. Lawmakers also provided advance procurement money for 27 F-35s.

Though the JSF flight-test program is still in its early stages, the acquisition chief says it is so far showing promise. “The truth is the initial Joint Strike Fighter development planes have flown almost flawlessly,” he says. “They have generated almost all of the sorties [planned] and they have returned mission capable after every mission.”

Many skeptics say the multinational Lockheed Martin F-35 program is bound to encounter snags in flight-testing, especially if it follows the path taken by the F-22. But the F-35 program has taken a different approach, Young says.

For example, there are fuel system and hydraulic mockups as well as avionics hardware-in-the-loop labs being used in the test effort that were not part of the F-22 program, he says. “All these things...should yield the ability to get through the test program successfully,” Young says.

The F-35 integrated test force to be based at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, and at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas, is already preparing to execute flight-test plans modified after earlier budget cuts. These axed two mission-system test aircraft, forcing increased use of a specially modified Boeing 737-300 as a surrogate F-35.

The CATbird (Cooperative Avionics Test Bed) “will act as a subsonic fourth aircraft” on mission-system tests, says Fred Madenwald, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 flight-test director at Edwards.

He says the first three JSFs to be based at Edwards, a trio of conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35As (AF-1, 2 and 3), are due to arrive between November 2009 and January 2010.

AF-1 and -2 will initially undertake loads and flutter tests in 2010 before graduating to maneuver and weapons work. “AF-3 will be the first mission-system aircraft to work here, and after the first block [of tests] we will bring [STOVL mission-system aircraft] BF-4 and -5 to Edwards from Patuxent River,” says Madenwald. They will work with AF-3 and the CATbird.

The CATBird incorporates the F-35’s power, cooling and cabling infrastructure as well as its sensors and processors. The aircraft’s planned use for mission-system testing at Edwards underlines its increased importance in JSF development following the flight-test program cost cuts. The fourth CTOL test aircraft, AF-4, will be used for high angle-of-attack engine work in 2010, Madenwald adds.

Photo: DoD