{"id":45689,"date":"2017-09-25T18:54:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T18:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/25\/slow-pace-of-work-at-northrop-led-depot-causing-jstars-availability-issues\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:35:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:35:53","slug":"slow-pace-of-work-at-northrop-led-depot-causing-jstars-availability-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2017\/09\/25\/slow-pace-of-work-at-northrop-led-depot-causing-jstars-availability-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force official: Northrop\u2019s JSTARS program still needs \u2018heavy lifting\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Northrop Grumman is still having trouble moving E-8C JSTARS out of its depot despite improvements in quality control, and aircraft availability is suffering as a result, the head of US Air Force Materiel Command said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service grounded four JSTARS aircraft in 2016 when it found quality control issues on planes from Northrop\u2019s depot in Lake Charles, La., and within weeks, those aircraft were flying again. While changes were made to its leadership and sustainment processes, Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski said more progress needs to be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re still at a point of not being able to get those jets through the maintenance period in the timely manner that we need in order to keep the aircraft available,\u201d she told Defense News in an exclusive Sept. 20 interview during the Air Force Association\u2019s annual conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are on a path to get there, but there is still a lot of heavy lifting to be done to get us to the point where we have the aircraft availability that Air Combat Command needs,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/air-warfare-symposium\/2017\/03\/08\/northrop-made-jstars-leadership-changes-after-air-force-grounded-planes-last-year\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635697159709242418-jstars-usafjpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Northrop made JSTARS leadership changes after Air Force grounded planes last year<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Northrop Grumman replaced at least one official at its JSTARS depot in Lake Charles, Louisiana, after four JSTARS aircraft were grounded last year as a result of maintenance problems.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Air Force\u2019s JSTARS \u2014 short for Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System \u2014 is the service\u2019s premier battle management and surveillance aircraft, used to detect ground targets and convey that information to nearby combat aircraft. However, after decades of operation, including more than 130,000 combat hours flown in Iraq and Syria since 2001, the aircraft is becoming significantly more difficult to maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The health of the fleet might be even more critical should the U.S. Air Force cancel the JSTARS recap program, which would replace the aging E-8Cs with modern aircraft outfitted with a more advanced radar. Because the latest assessments of the aircraft show it can last until almost 2030, the service is considering retaining its current capability while deciding how best to field a more survivable replacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe urgency, the need to immediately replace them isn\u2019t there anymore,\u201d Pawlikowski said. However, she also acknowledged that it still is a challenge to keep the legacy fleet flying. \u201cEvery time we bring one of the jets into the depot we find places where there\u2019s corrosion we have to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Air Force operates only 16 JSTARS planes with an additional aircraft for training. However, over the past year, about six planes have been in Northrop\u2019s depot, located at Lake Charles, La., at a single time. The company\u2019s current sustainment contract does not stipulate how many aircraft can be in depot at a single time, but Patty Welsh, a spokeswoman for Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., noted that Northrop is \u201cheavily incentivized\u201d to decrease the number of planes going through maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Northrop\u2019s sustainment contract with the Air Force runs until 2022. Past that, the service will consider whether other companies are better fit to maintain the legacy of JSTARS fleet going forward, Pawlikowski said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think we should do that regardless of whether we continue to make progress here. We\u2019re looking at a different situation now, if indeed we\u2019re going to potentially keep those aircraft a little longer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/afa-air-space\/2017\/09\/18\/air-combant-command-head-jstars-recap-may-not-be-best-option-for-future-threat-environment\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635775643194068823-jstars-recap-conceptualjpg.png?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Air Combat Command head: JSTARS recap may not be best option<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Air Force\u2019s decision on whether to cancel the JSTARS recap program will be driven, in part, on whether the service can provide a similar capability by networking together its existing platforms and sensors, the head of Air Combat Command said Monday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service is also working on a maintenance plan that will lay out how to keep the planes flying for the rest of its service life. Pawlikowski anticipates that plan could be delivered as early as 18 months from now and will spell out how often planes must be inspected, which parts will be treated for corrosion and adjusting what work is done by the U.S. Air Force on the flight line instead of in the depot, for instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The legacy JSTARS aircraft are encountering problems not \u201cin the instruction manual\u201d for a typical Boeing 707 due to the many modifications made so that the plane could incorporate military-specific equipment. The new maintenance plan will also address those challenges as well, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement to Defense News, the leader of Northrop\u2019s JSTARS program said the company \u201cis committed to quality, safety and mission assurance for our customers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe continue to work closely with our Air Force customer in supporting this critical mission and the required demands of the warfighter for the Joint STARS fleet,\u201d said Bryan Lima, the company\u2019s director of manned C2ISR programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northrop Grumman is still having trouble moving E-8C JSTARS out of its depot despite improvements in quality control, and aircraft availability is suffering as a result, the head of Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":83535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[16,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3305],"class_list":["post-45689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XYGF4GMIDZHJ3IDFRIM6REGFVM","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/air-force-association\/2017\/09\/25\/slow-pace-of-work-at-northrop-led-depot-causing-jstars-availability-issues\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Air Force official: Northrop\u2019s JSTARS program still needs \u2018heavy lifting\u2019 - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Northrop Grumman is still having trouble moving E-8C JSTARS out of its depot despite improvements in quality control, and aircraft availability is suffering as a result, the head of Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Air Force official: Northrop\u2019s JSTARS program still needs \u2018heavy lifting\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Northrop Grumman is still having trouble moving E-8C JSTARS out of its depot despite improvements in quality control, and aircraft availability is suffering as a result, the head of Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2017\/09\/25\/slow-pace-of-work-at-northrop-led-depot-causing-jstars-availability-issues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Air Force TImes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-25T18:54:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T23:35:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Valerie Insinna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Valerie Insinna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 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