Changing tack slightly, this came out in this morning's AF daily news bulletin:
Expecting less of ALIS
—John A. Tirpak
The Air Force is looking to see if it really needs the F-35's Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) to do everything it was originally planned to do right away, Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski said Thursday. The system is "almost as challenging" as developing a fifth-generation fighter, and while the concepts involved in ALIS are all great, "we have to see … how much is enough, now that we see how challenging it is," she told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Pawlikowski stopped short of saying USAF would relax its ALIS requirements—which might not even be possible, since it is a multi-service, multi-nation program. However,
for purposes of initial service, USAF might think about "how much of the original vision is realistic" and "what's the real savings if I get it to do a little less?" she said. Closing in on initial operational capability, USAF may "adjust its expectations" for the system, she said. Asked to comment on whether the F-35 could fly missions without plugging into the internet—a question posed recently because of concerns about ALIS' cyber vulnerabilities—Pawlikowski made an analogy to a laptop computer. It can work without connecting to the internet, she said, but "sooner or later … there are things you want to buy" or upload, or to get updates, so a connection is ultimately inevitable.
In the same bulletin, and sticking with the non-airframe side of things:
The Private F-35 Fix Is In Beyond 2020
—
John A. Tirpak
It'll cost the Air Force "tens of millions" per year out of hide to hire contractors to do F-35 maintenance through at least 2020, because the service doesn't have enough people to do the work, Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski said Thursday. While Congress "restored" some money to keep A-10s in service—after
rejecting USAF's plan to retire the jet and
transition A-10 maintainers to the F-35—"that took care of the flying hours [but] … would not have included money to do contract maintenance … So we've had to carve that out of all the other O&M [operations and maintenance]" accounts. The situation won't be fixed quickly, either, because even though USAF is
looking to grow by several thousand airmen, it can't simply put new people to work on the F-35. The jet is too complex for newbies, and it takes "seven to nine years" to "grow" a maintainer to a high experience level, she said. Using contractors will "give ourselves time to build the organic workforce" needed, she said. Blue-suiters don't seem to be quitting to take higher-paying contractor jobs—yet—she said, but it's a concern. (
Read the full report.)
There's a lot more to combat capability than just an airframe.