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IOC od utorka
Citat:The Air Force expects to declare initial operational capability for its variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter next Tuesday, Aug. 2, multiple sources confirmed to Inside Defense.
The service's target IOC window opens Aug. 1 and extends through December. After speculation that the milestone would fall later in the year due to delays in delivery of the Autonomic Logistics Information System, Air Force officials have become increasingly confident that the service would in fact declare IOC in August, with sources confirming July 27 that Aug. 2 is the current target.
The Air Force has a number of requirements it has been tracking for IOC -- at least 12 aircraft must have all the necessary retrofits and the newest Block 3i software, pilots and maintainers must be fully trained, the jets must be able to meet performance and capability standards and ALIS must be deployable.
Gen. Herbert Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, will make the IOC determination and will brief top Air Force leadership prior to making a public announcement. Carlisle told reporters earlier this month that IOC is coming "sooner rather than later," and noted that the most recent release of ALIS is ready to deploy in an operational environment.
The first operational F-35A unit will be located at Hill Air Force Base, UT, and representatives from the base's 34th Fighter Squadron and the 388th Maintenance Group told reporters during a July 27 conference call that the unit has met all of its IOC requirements and submitted them to Carlisle for approval.
"We have achieved all our milestones," Lt. Col. Steven Anderson, 388th Maintenance Group deputy commander, said on the conference call. "It has been checked on the sheet and we have submitted all the data to ACC for Gen. Carlisle's consideration on making that declaration."
Lt. Col. George Watkins, 34th Fighter Squadron commander, said that as of July 27, the squadron has 24 F-35 pilots trained, and 21 of them are combat mission ready. The squadron has also completed final pilot verification in the last several weeks.
To date, Hill AFB has 15 F-35s on the ramp and is expecting a 16th aircraft to arrive in late August. It has flown 854 total training sorties and currently has a 91 percent mission effectiveness rate, according to Anderson.
http://insidedefense.com/daily-news/air-force-expects-declare-f-35-ioc-aug-2
Citat:There are 222 F-35A maintainers at Hill AFB, Utah, now, and 150 more are in the pipeline, handily beating requirements for initial operational capability for the new fighter, Lt. Col. Steven Anderson, 388th Maintenance Group deputy commander, told reporters in a telecon Wednesday.
The ALIS (Autonomic Logistics Information System), which has been problematic in recent months, is up to the task of supporting a six-ship deployment, as required for IOC, he said, and will improve in the months and years to come. There are a combined 21 Active Duty and Reserve pilots certified—and three more nearly certified—“combat mission ready” in the air-to-air, close air support, interdiction, and “limited” suppression of enemy air defense missions, he reported.
The CAS profile is similar to that flown by F-16s in Afghanistan in recent years, Lt. Col. George Watkins, 34th FS commander said, with GPS-guided and laser-guided bombs. The 34th Fighter Squadron has actually overflown its allotted flying hours by 14.5 percent “because of the increased reliability of the Low-Rate Initial Production Lot 7 and 8 aircraft,” and nine of the 15 aircraft serving with the unit were delivered early, Anderson added.
Maintainers and depot workers at Hill worked “158 days … nonstop” to achieve IOC on time by Aug. 1, he said, and completed necessary modifications to the initial 12 aircraft “33 days ahead of schedule.” The timeline for when the F-35s actually deploy for real-world missions will be up to ACC chief Gen. Hawk Carlisle, but the unit is ready, Watkins said.
http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pages/2016/Ju.....mbers.aspx
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