Officials: Military may deploy F-35 early - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Officials: Military may deploy F-35 early

The military may deploy the F-35 joint strike fighter before the tri-service combat jet formally achieves initial operational capability, top uniformed officials told Congress earlier this week.

While the Marine Corps has always maintained that it would declare IOC with interim Block 2B software, the Air Force and Navy require that the aircraft be fielded with Block 3 software.

However, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force and Navy leaders said Tuesday they would consider deploying the fifth-generation stealth fighter into combat zones with interim Block 2B software, provided there were no safety concerns.

“If the combatant commander said, ‘Bring me this capability,’ then we clearly would provide it,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, the service’s deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements.

The Navy’s director of warfare integration, Rear Adm. David Philman, concurred.

“I don’t see any reason we wouldn’t be able to be told to go into theater, assuming all the safety considerations have been taken care of,” he said.

Both the Navy and the Air Force would have some number of the aircraft prior to any IOC date, but the specifics of how many planes would be available is not yet known.

“We will have a number, probably on the order of 100 airplanes, delivered to operational units before we declare initial operational capability,” Carlisle said. “Clearly, although we may not declare IOC, we’ll be training, we’ll be doing the tactics, training and procedures with the Block 2.”

The maintenance and logistical systems would also be built during that period, he said.

Philman said the Navy would have some aircraft available, but not as many as the Air Force.

Marine Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, the Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, testified alongside Carlisle and Philman that his service still plans to declare IOC with the interim Block 2B software and would have about 50 F-35s available near that time. He said IOC for the Marines is now estimated to fall between 2014 and 2015, a two-year slip.

Even with the interim software, the F-35 would be vastly more capable than existing warplanes, the three flag officers said.

“There is a lot of capability even in the Block 2 airplanes that looks very impressive,” Carlisle said.

However, the Air Force and the Navy will insist upon Block 3 hardware and software for their formal IOC declarations, Carlisle and Philman said.

Insisting on Block 3 will allow the Pentagon to keep the pressure on Lockheed Martin, the F-35’s prime contractor.

“I’ll be perfectly frank: In a lot of cases, if you delay an IOC, you can maintain pressure on a contractor,” Carlisle said.

IOC for the Air Force and Navy, like the Marines, will slip by about two years from 2016, Carlisle and Philman said.

None of the three services has set a fixed IOC date, but Philman said the 2016 date is no longer valid.