Admiral Greenert, out of touch with F-35C risk

Take a look at the following interview and see if Admiral Greenert is either misleading the reporter or is completely clueless about F-35C risk.

Interview – ADM. Jon Greenert, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations
(DEFENSE NEWS 03 MAR 14)


Q. If the F-35C is delayed by two years, what are the ramifications?

A. It will not affect IOC [initial operating capability]. In other words, for me IOC is right. I have got the software package on¬board. It works, which means it can employ all the weapons that I employ on [an F/A-18E/F] Super Hornet and it can land on a carrier, it can fit on a carrier, it can go down the elevator, come into the hangar bay, and you can do maintenance on it. It can be as good as a Super Hornet.

Q. Are you happy with the tire issue now?

A. I am happy with the progress.
We have got a test still coming up, but they tell me, I listen to them, and what they tell me I am OK with.

Q. A year ago, it was one of your top concerns.

A. Yes it was because in my head, when I see [hull, mechanical, electrical] stuff, I say we can fix this. We kind of always have.
When I see zeroes and ones are lining up, I am not so sure. So yes, I know what you mean. But so far yes, I think it will be OK based on what I see. But it is a matter of capacity and then how quickly do we now move those squadrons into the air wings. But IOC for us is you are ready to deploy with – we say a squadron, but the exact numbers are not fully defined. I have got to have the 3F software.

Once you have got that, you can ramp it up pretty fast. If I have the software and the airplane, some number can embed in an air wing and go to sea, I can ramp up from there.

Q. Anytime anyone talks about a delay in F-35, it begs the question of whether the Hornet line cranks up again to fill any kind of gap that might be created by delay.

A. No, we have run those numbers through that sort of impact on the strike fire inventory. We can manage.

Emphasis mine.

Curious. "All the weapons of a Super Hornet". Ok how about HARM? Because that is nowhere in sight on the F-35 roadmap. Gun? To date, the helmet does not work. Mk82 slicks? While not popular it is cleared on the Super Hornet.





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-Time's Battleland - 5 Part series on F-35 procurement - 2013 
-Summary of Air Power Australia F-35 points
-Aviation Week (ARES blog) F-35 posts (2007 to present)
-U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) F-35 reports
-F-35 JSF: Cold War Anachronism Without a Mission
-History of F-35 Production Cuts
-Looking at the three Japan contenders (maneuverability)
-How the Canadian DND misleads the public about the F-35
-Value of STOVL F-35B over-hyped
-Cuckoo in the nest--U.S. DOD DOT&E F-35 report is out
-6 Feb 2012 Letter from SASC to DOD boss Panetta questioning the decision to lift probation on the F-35B STOVL.
-USAFs F-35 procurement plan is not believable
-December 2011 Australia/Canada Brief
-F-35 Key Performance Perimeters (KPP) and Feb 2012 CRS report
-F-35 DOD Select Acquisition Report (SAR) FY2012
-Release of F-35 2012 test report card shows continued waste on a dud program
-Australian Defence answers serious F-35 project concerns with "so what?"
-Land of the Lost (production cut history update March 2013)
-Outgoing LM F-35 program boss admits to flawed weight assumptions (March 2013)
-A look at the F-35 program's astro-turfing
-F-35 and F-16 cost per flying hour
-Is this aircraft worth over $51B of USMC tac-air funding?
-Combat radius and altitude, A model
-F-35A, noise abatement and airfields and the USAF
-Deceptive marketing practice: F-35 blocks
-The concurrency fraud
-The dung beetle's "it's known" lie