{"id":39873,"date":"2022-03-08T23:44:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T23:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/03\/08\/f-35-production-decision-wont-come-until-end-of-fiscal-2023-at-least\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:11:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:11:55","slug":"f-35-production-decision-wont-come-until-end-of-fiscal-2023-at-least","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/03\/08\/f-35-production-decision-wont-come-until-end-of-fiscal-2023-at-least\/","title":{"rendered":"F-35 production decision won\u2019t come until end of fiscal 2023 \u2014 at least"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Testing delays will push a decision on whether to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2020\/10\/26\/the-f-35-will-move-into-full-rate-production-even-later-than-expected\/\" target=\"_blank\">move the F-35 to full-rate production<\/a> into late fiscal 2023 \u2014 and perhaps into fiscal 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a roundtable with reporters Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, the program executive officer for the F-35 Joint Program Office, said the F-35\u2032s critical Joint Simulation Environment testing, which has to happen before the aircraft\u2019s initial operational test and evaluation phase can be closed, is now expected to take place in early spring or summer 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before a milestone C decision can be reached on full-rate production for the F-35, the results of these simulation tests must be validated and used to help create a report necessary for the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked whether the tight time schedule effectively makes impossible a decision on full-rate production in fiscal 2023, Fick said, \u201cI don\u2019t think it rules it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut in the event that our [testing was] to slip by any appreciable margin, there\u2019s not a lot of leeway between the end of the summer, the generation of the report, and the ability to have a milestone [C] decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Defense Department originally planned for a full-rate production decision for the F-35 in December 2019, but it has repeatedly slipped due to Joint Simulation Environment delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Joint Simulation Environment will create high-end threat scenarios to test how well the F-35 will respond in the most dangerous situations. The scenarios the F-35 will face will include varying threat densities, different mixes of aircraft and a variety of ground threats in the simulations, including possible threats the fighter could face in the future, Fick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fick said the Defense Department is \u201caggressively\u201d working through the validation, verification and accreditation of the simulation\u2019s components. About half of the 88 packages necessary for this step have been completed, he said, and the program hopes to have that done around May 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once that is done, Fick said, the program moves into system validation verification \u2014 bringing components together into broader scenarios for their own validation, verification and accreditation. That is expected be done by this September, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The weeks long testing period, in which 64 test events will be run, will follow next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fick said although the JSE has not been completed yet, \u201cwe\u2019re very confident\u201d in the F-35\u2032s ability to fight if it had to engage in combat in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">F-35s already deployed overseas \u2014 including six from the 34th Fighter Squadron from Hill Air Force Base in Utah, which deployed to the eastern flank of NATO after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine \u2014 have the most up-to-date mission data files they need for combat, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe JSE is a tool \u2026 to verify the F-35\u2032s performance against a series of threats that we can\u2019t get to in the open air, short of actual combat,\u201d Fick said. \u201cWe understand the threats that the F-35 is going up against today. We understand the threats largely propagated throughout Europe, and those were the threats that the airplane was developed to counter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If the testing process were to slip further, &#8220;there&#8217;s not a lot of leeway&#8221; to reach a decision on full-rate production by the end of fiscal 2023, Lt. Gen. 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