Navy Aviation News

Navy Aviation News from the
Association of Naval Aviation Hampton Roads Squadron

Senators Want Answers On Fighter
Pratt F-35 Engine Cost Overrun Up By $600 Mln
Maine Biz Group Endorses Aircraft Carrier Plan
2 Marines Rescued After F/A-18 Crashes
Ship Neighbors’ Plea Falls On Deaf Ears
Local Panel Wants Justifications For Carrier Move
Legislation To Block Navy Airfield Is Grounded
Cost Overruns, Delays Trigger Intensified Scrutiny Of F-35 Program
Sky's The Limit For National Flight Academy

 

 

Senators Want Answers On Fighter

(POLITICO 11 MAR 10) ... Jen DiMascio

With the Pentagon’s largest weapons program delayed and increasing in cost, Sens. John McCain and Carl Levin are looking for answers about the future of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The Arizona Republican, who has a reputation for being tough on Pentagon waste, called for the hearing, scheduled for Thursday, with support from Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“We have not, I believe — members of the Armed Services Committee or Congress — been adequately informed of the extent of the difficulties” confronting the $300 billion program, McCain told Air Force leaders last week.

The hearing will feature top Pentagon officials, including chief weapons buyer Ashton Carter and possibly officials from the Joint Estimating Team — which last fall found that the cost of the program would grow by $16 billion over the next five years.

Air Force officials have acknowledged that the program’s problems are extreme enough to trigger a congressional review.

That sets up an interesting test case for legislation that Levin and McCain passed last year to address out-of-control cost increases at the Pentagon.

A Government Accountability Office report in 2008 found that the top 96 programs at the Pentagon were about $300 billion over budget.

The Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act, passed early in the Obama administration, sought to tighten rules for programs running behind schedule and over budget.

“If the cost of certain defense projects continue to grow year after year,” Obama said as he signed the measure, “those projects will be closely reviewed, and if they don’t provide the value we need, they will be terminated.”

Termination is not likely to happen in the case of the Joint Strike Fighter, which in addition to being the nation’s only remaining fifth-generation fighter-jet program, may be too big to fail.

“There are no alternatives to that in our system,” Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley told reporters last week. “Yes, you can build the 4.5-generation, enhanced-capability F-15 kind of capability. But really, there are no good alternatives to the F-35 at this point. This is a program to which we are deeply committed.”

The U.S. plans to buy more than 2,000 of the Lockheed Martin-built planes for the Air Force, the Marine Corps and the Navy.

Eight other nations have committed to buying the jets as well. The fewer planes other nations purchase, the more the cost per plane will grow for everyone.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has invested his own political capital to boost the program, touting its importance to the nation’s future security as he canceled production of another high-tech fighter jet — the F-22 Raptor — last year.

“My impression is that most of the high-risk elements associated with this developmental program are largely behind us,” Gates said last year during a tour of the Fort Worth, Texas, plant at which Lockheed Martin is building the fifth-generation fighter jets.

But the Joint Estimating Team report arrived at the Pentagon shortly after the visit. Gates then sent in Carter, who also found problems.

In announcing next year’s budget, Gates said he had fined Lockheed Martin more than $600 million and fired the two-star general who managed the program.

A new manager has yet to be named, but it will be a three-star general, which requires confirmation by the Senate.

The fallout from the program’s reorganization still isn’t over.

The Air Force hasn’t determined the precise extent of the delay, leading to confusion on Capitol Hill.

Gates initially said the program wasn’t likely to be delayed at all and that the Pentagon would buy fewer airplanes. Last week, Donley told reporters the delay could be about two years — 2013 to 2015 — before enough jets can be produced for deployment. But two days later, in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, he described the delay as 13 months.

He said it was up to Air Combat Command chief Gen. William Fraser to arrive at a date.

That didn’t satisfy McCain, who is hoping to hear better answers Thursday.

“In my view, that piecemeal process by which the department has been assessing risk, and only in some cases notifying the committee timely and appropriately of required changes to the program, frustrates the ability of this committee to subject this program to proper congressional oversight,” McCain said.

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Pratt F-35 Engine Cost Overrun Up By $600 Mln

(REUTERS 10 MAR 10) ... Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON -- The cost overrun on the main engine for the Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet has grown by $600 million over the past year, despite tough cost-cutting measures by engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N), a Navy document shows.

The total cost to complete the Pratt F135 engine is now estimated to be $7.28 billion -- $2.5 billion more than the $4.8 billion initially projected for the engine, according to the document, which was first reported by Aviation Week magazine on its website on Wednesday.

That is an increase of $600 million from the $1.9 billion cost overrun that was reported last year by the House Armed Services Committee.

Pratt spokeswoman Erin Dick said she was not familiar with the new number, and emphasized that the company's aggressive cost-cutting measures were taking effect.

Pratt also offered the Pentagon a double-digit percentage reduction in engine cost in its latest contract proposal.

Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter had expressed concerns about cost growth on the Pratt engine last year, but endorsed Pratt's efforts to cut costs in a memo to F-35 international partners dated February 24, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Carter said a special independent "Joint Assessment Team" he appointed concluded that projected cost growth on the engine could be reduced significantly by investing in affordability measures and through a renewed commitment by Pratt.

"We believe the contractor can realistically achieve its stated cost reduction goals but will continue to monitor its progress," Carter wrote in the memo.

Congressional aides said they are awaiting additional data on the cost of the engine when the Pentagon sends lawmakers an annual report on acquisition costs on April 1.

But several aides said the latest briefing they received on the F-35 program revealed continued cost growth on the main engine, a development they described as "problematic."

Carter is implementing a major restructuring of the overall F-35 program, including adding $2.8 billion more to the development phase of the program and slowing down the expected ramp up in production.

He is due to testify at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the F-35 program on Thursday that was requested by Senator John McCain.

McCain's dogged investigation of wasteful Pentagon programs has led to major acquisition reforms in recent years.

News of the continued cost growth comes just as the Pentagon is redoubling its efforts to cancel an alternate engine for the F-35 fighter that was initiated by Congress as a hedge against problems with a single engine.

Lawmakers defied a presidential veto to fund the second engine built by General Electric Co (GE.N) and Rolls Royce last year and say they're ready to fight the Pentagon and White House to maintain the program again this year.

A recent Pentagon analysis said it would cost $2.9 billion over six years to complete work on the GE-Rolls engine, but GE and Rolls-Royce say they need just $900 million to complete the development program and $400 million more for tooling.

The Pentagon analysis also concluded that the longer term "life cycle" costs of having two engines were comparable to having only one, although it did not foresee any savings.

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Maine Biz Group Endorses Aircraft Carrier Plan

(ASSOCIATED PRESS 10 MAR 10)

PORTLAND, Maine ? The Portland Regional Chamber of commerce is endorsing an effort to bring the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy to Maine.

Chamber CEO Godfrey Wood says bringing the Kennedy could be a "grand slam home run" for Portland and the region.

Portland is one of two finalists to become the permanent home of the aircraft carrier.

The non-nuclear JFK was launched in May 1967 and was decommissioned in August 2007.

The local nonprofit group JFK for Maine was formed to try to bring the carrier to Portland.

The Portland Press Herald says JFK for ME estimates the ship could provide more than 100 permanent jobs.

The name of the other city vying for the JFK has not been released

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2 Marines Rescued After F/A-18 Crashes

(ASSOCIATED PRESS 10 MAR 10)

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Two Marine Corps jet pilots were rescued off the South Carolina coast after their aircraft went down.

A statement from the Coast Guard on Wednesday said Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort notified the Coast Guard at about 5:17 p.m. that two pilots aboard a Marine F/A-18D Hornet attached to Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 went down approximately 35 miles off the coast of St. Helena Sound.

Authorities said two parachutes were spotted, indicating that the pilots had ejected.

A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter rescue crew from Charleston located the missing pilots and rescued them about an hour after the crash.

It wasn’t known if the Marine pilots were injured, and Coast Guard officials weren’t immediately available for additional comment Wednesday night.

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Ship Neighbors’ Plea Falls On Deaf Ears

Sticking To Her Guns

(BOSTON HERALD 11 MAR 10) ... Hillary Chabot

Adding a new chapter to its storied history of vanquished British seamen and Barbary pirates, Old Ironsides has emerged victorious once again - this time vs. snooty neighbors seeking to silence the frigate’s cannons.

The 204-foot USS Constitution will continue its twice-daily blasts along with playing the national anthem - although officials turned the ship around in Boston Harbor on Feb. 18 so the echoing booms are directed away from Charlestown residences.

“We sent (the neighbors) a letter saying that after reviewing their request, we decided we’re not going to make any changes to the tradition,” said Timothy Cooper, the ship’s commanding officer.

The Herald reported in November that unidentified neighbors had asked Cooper to reduce the size of the gunpowder charge, turn down the national anthem and eliminate weekend ceremonies altogether.

The neighbors invited Cooper over for a glass of wine to hear the noise himself, saying the cannon blasts - a tradition dating to 1798 - were “much more disruptive to the neighborhood than (he) might have imagined.”

Cooper didn’t take them up on their invite. “I appreciate the spirit in which it was offered, but I think it was best to communicate through official correspondence rather than a sit down,” Cooper told the Herald yesterday.

But he tried using a smaller amount of gunpowder to lessen the cannon noise, only to conclude the ceremony just wasn’t the same.

In the wake of the kerfuffle, local residents and politicians as well as out-of-towners have rallied round the nation’s oldest commissioned naval vessel with calls, letters and e-mails of support.

Said Cooper: “It sparked a lot of goodwill for the ship and our traditions.”

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Local Panel Wants Justifications For Carrier Move

(NORFOLK VIRGINIAN-PILOT 10 MAR 10) ... Bill Bartel

A panel of Hampton Roads congressmen, elected state and city leaders, and retired military officers sent a letter to top Navy officials Tuesday asking pointed questions about plans to move an aircraft carrier from Norfolk to Mayport, Fla.

As part of its search for a way to block the Navy's plans, the Hampton Roads Military Affairs Commission asked that the Navy provide "a business-like analysis that objectively addresses the financial and operational tradeoffs of this proposal, as well as the threat assessment that warrants such an undertaking."

The letter was addressed to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations.

Navy and Defense Department officials have said a nuclear-powered carrier needs to be relocated to Mayport because of concerns about a possible terrorist attack or man-made or natural disasters in Norfolk - the only aircraft-carrier homeport on the East Coast.

Virginia's congressmen and other opponents have said the Navy has failed to offer any deep analysis that justifies those concerns.

"The bottom line is that the Navy has not made the case for spending over $1 billion to create a redundant East Coast carrier homeport, and there are far more questions than answers about this proposal," U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye said in a news release.

Nye organized and leads the commission, whose members indicated last week that one strategy for blocking the move may be demonstrating that the actual cost of moving a carrier is much higher than the Navy's $500 million-plus estimate.

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Legislation To Block Navy Airfield Is Grounded

(PETERSBURG PROGRESS-INDEX (VA) 09 MAR 10) ... Sarah Sonies

RICHMOND - Legislation that could have stopped the U.S. Navy from locating an outlying landing field in the Tidewater area, including a proposed airfield bordering Prince George County, has been refused permission for takeoff this year. But landing field opponents aren't giving up.

The House Counties, Cities and Towns Committee quietly killed House Bill 887, sponsored by Del. William K. Barlow, D-Smithfield. The panel failed to act on the bill by Feb. 16, the deadline for legislation to win approval from its originating chamber.

But Barlow said the fight isn't over.

"We knew in the beginning that it would be an uphill battle. We are certainly not giving up and not going to drop this. We are going to continue to try to get the Navy to reconsider possible locations for the OLF," Barlow said.

The proposed $200 million outlying landing field was meant to give Navy pilots practice in simulated aircraft carrier landings and takeoffs. The roughly $200 million project would encompass 2,000 acres of a core area and another 28,000-acre buffer zone. The Navy would look to purchase or lease 2,000 acres for the core area, which would include an 8,000-foot runway, aircraft traffic control tower/operations support center, aircraft and vehicle refueling stations, airport rescue and fire fighting facility, fire fighting training area, and rotating beacon tower.

The Navy is considering five sites for an outlying landing field - three in southeastern Virginia and two in northeastern North Carolina. The Virginia sites are:

- Cabin Point in Surry County, bordering Prince George and Sussex counties. The Surry County site spills over into Prince George County and is 18 miles away from Petersburg.

- Dory in Southampton County.

- Mason, straddling Sussex and Southampton counties, bordering Greenville County.

Two bills aimed at blocking the location of an outlying landing field in Virginia were filed for consideration during the General Assembly's 2010 session:

- Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Sen. Frederick M. Quayle, R-Suffolk, would have required that the U.S. Navy ask permission from the General Assembly before acquiring property for an outlying landing field. In January, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted 8-5 that the bill be "passed by indefinitely," thus killing it.

- HB 887 would have ensured that local officials could control land use and could stop the Navy from taking land for an outlying landing field. It was left in the House Counties, Cities and Towns Committee after a subcommittee recommended the bill be tabled.

Barlow said HB 887 failed partly because of strong opposition from people affiliated with Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.

"The bill is dead because the city of Virginia Beach was adamantly opposed to this legislation, and they fought very hard against it," Barlow said. "The state of Virginia will do what we can as a commonwealth to support Oceana."

Quayle also blamed the legislation's defeat on the opposition from the Navy and representatives from Virginia Beach.

"My counties are being asked to solve Virginia Beach problems, and they are not getting any of the benefits that Virginia Beach gets," Quayle said.

Tony Clark, the chairman of Virginians Against the Outlying Landing Field, agreed that the outlying landing field legislation was an uphill battle.

"We weren't surprised that it wasn't passed into law," Clark said. "It is disappointing that a legislature would not have the courage to have an up-or-down vote on a piece of legislation, but nonetheless we thank Quayle and Barlow for introducing the legislation supporting our position."

The U.S. Fleet Forces Command declined to comment on the failed legislation. Its policy is "not to comment on legislation pending or that has been voted down."

The Navy has said that delays have pushed the landing field's timeline back so far that its construction would coincide with discussions about where to base F-35Cs. The Navy has decided that instead of proceeding with controversial plans for a landing field, it makes more sense to wait to see if Virginia Beach will be home to squadrons of F-35Cs.

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Cost Overruns, Delays Trigger Intensified Scrutiny Of F-35 Program

(CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY TODAY 08 MAR 10) ... John M. Donnelly

Responding to growing concern about delays and ballooning costs in the most expensive weapons program in Pentagon history, the Senate Armed Services Committee has hastily arranged a March 11 hearing to grill Defense Department officials on problems surrounding the Joint Strike Fighter.

That hearing will almost certainly not be the last to examine the F-35 program, which is increasingly under the spotlight on Capitol Hill. “I’m very concerned about the stability of that program,” said John McCain of Arizona, the panel’s ranking Republican, during a March 4 hearing on the Air Force budget.

The Pentagon wants to buy 2,456 of the stealthy fighter jets, with variants for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. U.S. allies plan to purchase many more. Lawmakers are increasingly worried about the progress of the F-35, and allies that have shared in the program’s costs are keeping an eye on its troubles — and politicians’ reactions.

The Pentagon’s latest official projection of the total cost of the program is $298.8 billion. But Defense officials now say that the F-35 is all but certain to cost many billions more and take at least a year longer to develop. Air Force officials acknowledged for the first time last week that the date when their first operational squadrons will have a combat capability appears poised to slip two years, to 2015.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates fired the program manager last month and slashed by $614 million the award fees paid to the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp.

To the F-35’s advocates, these corrective actions show that the program is now on a more solid footing. The Pentagon, they say, has become more realistic about the additional testing needed and the higher costs that entails.

Either way, the F-35 is, in a sense, the only plane in town. Because President Obama and Congress terminated the F-22 fighter last year, they now effectively have no choice but to build the F-35. The military can still order advanced fighters, including the Navy’s F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, and it relies increasingly on armed drones. But when it comes to the next generation of manned fighter jets, the F-35 is it.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said at last week’s Armed Services Committee hearing that the likelihood of F-35 delays and cost growth was well known to the Air Force before Congress voted last year not to buy more F-22s. Chambliss pressed Air Force leaders on why they did not tell lawmakers then about the likely problems. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, the Air Force’s chief of staff, replied that the full dimension of the troubles had not been validated.

Ashton B. Carter, the Pentagon’s acquisitions undersecretary, told reporters in a March 4 conference call that the plane has no fundamental technological or manufacturing problems.But critics say that if the record of major Pentagon weapons programs holds true to form, more bad F-35 news is yet to come. And lawmakers and their aides are frustrated that they are not getting the full story about the F-35 in a timely manner.

McCain said he is worried about the difficulty of managing complex software in the F-35 cockpits and fixing manufacturing glitches. McCain is also not pleased that Gates testified just last month that the initial capability dates would not slip, even as he said the production phase of the program would be set back 13 months. Citing the Air Force’s disclosure a month later of a two-year delay in fielding the plane, McCain and others said they feel Congress has not been adequately informed about the program.

Air Force officials say that at the time, neither they nor Gates knew how the development difficulties could affect the fielding dates.

But McCain said that what he termed a lack of full disclosure “frustrates the ability of this committee to subject this program to proper congressional oversight.”

At the March 11 hearing, McCain and his colleagues will get to question Carter and Christine H. Fox, director of the department’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office.

The House Armed Services Committee plans a March 24 hearing to examine several issues, including the overall F-35 program and whether to continue developing a second set of engines for that plane. Obama opposes a second engine, but Congress has repeatedly funded its development.

The new scrutiny of the F-35 comes as the Armed Services and Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense in both chambers weigh the administration’s request for $11.5 billion in fiscal 2011 for 43 F-35 aircraft for the three services.

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Sky's The Limit For National Flight Academy

Facility To Teach Through Aviation

(PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL (FL) 07 MAR 10) ... Travis Griggs

Construction on the National Flight Academy facilities at Pensacola Naval Air Station is on course and full speed ahead.

Thursday morning, flight academy Vice President Kevin King donned a hard hat and took news reporters on a tour of the academy's facilities, which are under construction adjacent to the National Naval Aviation Museum.

When it opens as scheduled in the summer of 2012, the National Flight Academy will be a 5½-day educational camp for students in grades 7-12. The camp will use a Naval-aviation-themed environment to teach students about science, technology, engineering and math.

The academy is being outfitted to replicate an aircraft carrier — complete with bunks and ready rooms — where students will prepare to fly missions in aircraft simulators.

"It's quite incredible," King said. "No one has done this before, and no one is doing this now."

The flight academy project includes a 102,000-square-foot academy building and a 55,000-square-foot addition to the Naval aviation museum, both of which are under construction.

"All these facilities are designed to work together," King said.

King said flight academy officials raided the museum's warehouse to find authentic equipment from decommissioned Navy ships, which they will use to dress up parts of the academy.

King said that such details will further the academy's goal of immersing students in the Navy experience.

"We use all the terms for a ship. This is not a floor — it's a deck. This is not a door — it's a hatch," King said, pointing to building features on the second floor of the academy.

"These buildings are going to be far better than anyone can imagine," King said.

King said much attention is being focused on the academy's centerpieces: a pair of bays with space for up to 48 flight simulators.

"It will be the largest collection outside of the Department of Defense," King said.

Aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin each donated $2 million to outfit the simulator bays, King said.

Ground was broken on the project in June. Pensacola-based firms Greenhut Construction Co. and Caldwell Associates Architects are in charge of design and construction.

The academy's grand opening was initially scheduled for May 2011, but officials have since pushed back the opening to summer 2012.

"One of our priorities is to do it right, so we didn't want to rush the opening," said Christy Carroll, who was recently hired as the academy's dean of education.

Carroll is developing academy curricula and said the academy is working with local schools and several universities to create programs that appeal to diverse groups.

In addition to the summer camp program, the building will have facilities to host up to 16 adult guests for corporate team-building workshops or a planned adult fantasy camp. King said the adult programs are tailored for grown-ups who want a taste of the Naval aviation experience.

"It's an adventure-type experience that people our age are kind of looking for," King said.

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