F-35 delay: Especially painful at Eglin - Air Force Community - Air Force Times

F-35 delay: Especially painful at Eglin

It’s not good news for anyone that there is another delay with the F-35 Lightning II.

But it’s especially bad news for the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

The wing is slated to train F-35 pilots and maintainers for the Air Force as well as the Marine Corps and Navy. Marines and Navy types are even sprinkled in with the airmen, although a posting with the 33rd is not officially a joint billet.

“If we got any more ‘joint’ we’d all be wearing the same clothes,” Col. Arthur Tomassetti said over the telephone from Eglin. “We couldn’t function more ‘joint’ if we tried.”

Tomassetti should know. He’s vice commander of the 33rd. And he’s a Marine.

The interview with Tomassetti and another with Air Force Col. David Hlatky, the wing commander, were in September, before the latest delay was announced.

At that time, Hlatky and Tomassetti were certain they would have new airplanes soon. Their team was hard at work.

“We even have a couple of soldiers on staff,” Hlatky said. “We’re spinning up these ground liaison officers to be the smartest folks in the Army on how the F-35 works.”

Now, it’s anyone’s guess how long it will be before Hlatky and Tomassetti see the two F-35s they were promised by the end of the year. Instead, the fighter jets won’t even leave the factory until April and then will be delivered to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., so they can be flown by test pilots for another six months. It’s the military’s way of saying production F-35s aren’t ready for prime time.

The delay, widely reported by the media but not confirmed by the Pentagon, means the 33rd probably won’t start training airmen, sailors or Marines until late next year, at the earliest. Really, though, it’s anyone’s guess.

The bigger question is: When is all this nonsense with the F-35 — delays and cost overruns — going to stop?

Not even a year ago, Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the F-35 military program manager, extended the flight-test commitment, postponed operational deliveries and announced he was withholding $614 million in payments to prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

The “restructuring,” the word used by Gates, seemed like a move in the right direction. Obviously, it didn’t work.

The F-35 is the Pentagon’s largest weapons system project, coming in at about $382 billion. It was already more than four years behind schedule before the latest setback. It’s probably now another two years off, at least.

What is going on? Members of the 33rd, not to mention taxpayers, deserve to know.

The Pentagon has a chance to find out what the real story is when its Defense Acquisitions Board meets Nov. 22 for an in-depth review of the Joint Strike Fighter.

Whatever the deal is, the officials need to get serious. They must act on the behalf of the American people: No more cost overruns, no more delays — or Lockheed Martin will pay, big time.

Enough is enough. The F-35 can’t be so good that it’s worth this kind of time and money.

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Robert F. Dorr, an Air Force veteran who lives in Oakton, Va., writes books, too. His “Mission to Berlin” hits stores in March. If you want to tell him what you think about the F-35, e-mail him.