Program Leader Says Airplane Is In Final Stages Before Initial Operational Capability Is Achieved

The F-35A Lightning II is on track to declare initial operational capability between August and December.

IOC is the first step Air Combat Command will take in bringing the F-35 online as the latest fifth-generation multirole fighter. In IOC configuration, the aircraft will be able to penetrate areas with developed air defenses, provide close air support to ground troops and be readily deployable to conflict theaters.

Col. David Chace is the F-35 systems management office chief and lead for F-35 operational requirements at ACC. He leads a multi-discipline team of maintenance professionals, program managers, operators and engineers, not only with the responsibility for F-35 requirements, but also weapons systems fielding.

Col. Chance said the forecast is that there will be more than 12 aircraft. There are currently 12 aircraft available at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Some of those are going through the last few modifications required to support IOC. We will have additional aircraft in the modification process beginning in August. Depending on the actual IOC date, modifications may be complete on the additional F-35s.

The commander of Air Combat Command will make the IOC decision in direct consultation with the chief of staff of the Air Force. It is a capabilities-based decision, with input received from units assigned to operational testing and evaluation at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, and Nellis AFB, Nevada, and Edwards AFB, California.

Chase said that since beginning this process over five years ago with the first F-35s on the ground, we are in the final stages of IOC. These steps focus on training and equipping our personnel. There are no known technical issues today that would prevent us from reaching IOC in our August-December timeframe. The F-35 recently deployed from Hill to Mountain Home where crews, maintenance and support personnel conducted a number of missions. During that deployment, crews attained a 100 percent sortie generation rate with 88 of 88 planned sorties and a 94 percent hit rate with 15 of 16 bombs on target. These numbers provide a positive indication of where we are when it comes to stability and component performance.

Feedback from the events at Mountain Home will feed into the overall evaluation of F-35 capabilities. The second evaluation will take place in the operational test environment with F-35 mission sets the Air Force intends to execute after IOC. All reports will be delivered in July and feed into the overall F-35 capabilities report. The ultimate goal is to provide a needed capability to the warfighter to execute the mission. It is not calendar-based or event-based.

(Image provided with USAF news release)

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