Page 8 - Aerotech News and Review 6-3-13

Defense News

F-35 program shows continuing progress
variety of stakeholders, including in- and industry leadership on events and
by Lisa Ferdinando ternational partners, CEOs of the ma- issues that have or could impact the Air Force photograph by A1C Joshua D. King
DOD News jor industrial participants, U.S. mili- F-35 program.
tary officials and Office of Secretary An F-35A Lightning II takes off from Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
The F-35 Lightning II program is of Defense leadership, Kendall said. Evolving program
on track and demonstrating “continu- The joint program office will be feedback from partners. many features and capabilities that
ing progress in all aspects,” Frank He noted two F-35s arrived in the “The F-35 has clearly demon- they don’t have in current aircraft.”
Kendall, undersecretary of defense Netherlands earlier this week. Ac- evolving and changing as the activi-
for acquisition, technology and lo- cording to the F-35 program, the ties that are being conducted for the strated its value to the operational The Air Force, he said, is on track
gistics, said May 24. planes will be in the Netherlands for F-35 change, Kendall said. community,” he said. “Its operators to make initial operational capability
three weeks for testing and to take are willing to take advantage of its later this year.
Kendall spoke during a conference part in an air show to introduce the “There will be a move toward
call with reporters after an F-35 chief fifth-generation fighter to the Dutch follow-on development (and) con-
executive officer roundtable meeting people. tinued modernization of the aircraft,
in Phoenix. which will occur throughout its life,”
The F-35 program, also known as he said.
“There has been no change in our the Joint Strike Fighter Program, is
schedule expectations to note,” he the Defense Department’s focal point The F-35 is expected to be ready
said. for defining affordable next-genera- for its final test phase in 2018, Ken-
tion strike aircraft weapon systems dall said.
The aircraft’s cost continues to for the Navy, Air Force, Marine
come down in production, consistent Corps and allies. “We reviewed the status of opera-
with earlier projections, Kendall said. tional test planning; there is a con-
The F-35 will bring cutting-edge sensus that is likely to occur in cal-
“We remain focused on the sus- technologies to the battlespace of the endar year 2018, given the realities
tainment part of the program,” he future, according to the program’s of the schedule at this time,” he said.
said. “Increasingly, in fact, we’re website.
turning our emphasis to that because Flexibility is the key, Kendall
that is where we still see opportunity The CEO roundtables, which are said, as the program moves for-
to further reduce cost.” held annually, promote open com- ward, evolves and seeks to be the
munication between senior service, most cost-effective model for sus-
International partners the Office of Secretary of Defense, tainment.
The roundtable brought together a
Kendall said he has received great
Barksdale
unit first to train with latest B-52 upgrade

by SrA. Joseph Raatz As the oldest bomber in the Air Force inventory, the B-52 has “H” model features multi-function digital display screens, com-
Barksdale AFB, La. often been the target of replacement programs. In the 60 years puter network servers and real-time communication uplinks with

since the B-52 first came onto the scene the Air Force has debuted Internet access.

In a world of military budget constraints and tough acquisition six heavy bombers, of which only three are still flying, includ- “The B-52 has always been capable of executing a wide variety
choices, boosting the efficiency of current assets is a no-brainer.
The last B-52 Stratofortress rolled off the assembly line in 1962, ing the B-52 itself. The recently announced B-21 aims to finally of missions,” Kenny said. “The IWBU provides more flexibility
replace the venerable Stratofortress, but will not be fielded until and capability in order to more effectively execute these diverse
but while the airframe itself is well-seasoned, the internal com- the mid-2020s. set of missions across numerous combatant commands.”
ponents are continually upgraded to keep up with the demands of
the modern battlespace. Efforts like the Military Standard 1760 In the interim, the B-52 is projected to continue operations until Editor’s note: Capt. Kenny’s last name was removed in this
Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade program aim to keep the bomber at least 2040. To facilitate flying into its 90th year, the bomber is article due to security concerns.
at the forefront of U.S. power projection for decades to come. constantly being fitted with upgraded components. The current

Last week, the 96th Bomb Squadron became the first operational

B-52 squadron to employ this latest upgrade during a local train-

ing mission.

“The IWBU to the B-52H provides increased carriage capabil-

ity for precision weapons to include the GPS-guided Joint Direct

Attack Munition,” said Capt. Kenny, a 96th Bomb Squadron in-

structor weapon systems officer. “This new capability also extends

our range by reducing the amount of drag that external weapons

produce.”

The JDAM is one of the Air Force’s most advanced precision-

guided bombs, using GPS-assisted inertial navigation to deliver up

to 2,000 pounds of high explosives with pinpoint accuracy. Cur-

rently, the B-52 can carry up to 12 J-series weapons on its exterior

pylons, but they cannot be carried internally due to a difference in

wiring inside the bomb bay.

“JDAMs use a digital architecture in conjunction with a soft-

ware component called a Stores Management Overlay to com-

municate with the aircraft,” Kenny said. “The B-52s pylons have

had the capability to speak to the digital systems on precisions

weapons like JDAM for years, while the bomb bay remained ana-

log and only capable of dropping unguided conventional weapons.

That’s where the IWBU comes in.”

The first increment of the IWBU rewires the B-52’s internally

carried conventional rotary launcher, allowing it to house and com-

municate with up to eight J-series weapons. It also reconfigures the

external pylons to carry up to 16 of the laser-guided JDAM variant.

“IWBU nearly doubles the number of JDAMs a single plane can

carry,” Kenny said. “This gives us the option to reduce the number

of aircraft required to execute a mission, lowers our fuel require-

ments and provides us with more flexible loadouts, enabling us

to strike a wider range of target types during any given mission.”

The next increment of the program will allow the B-52 to in- Air Force photograph by SrA. Benjamin Gonsier
ternally carry eight joint air-to-surface standoff missiles, as well
as a variety of miniature air-launched decoys. It will also give the SSgt. Stefano Cothran, a 2nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron weapons load team member, secures a GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack
B-52 the option of carrying up to 12 extended-range JASSM-ERs Munition to a pylon during the 2014 Global Strike Challenge on Barksdale Air Force Base, La., Aug. 27, 2014. Up to eight GBU-38
on the external pylons for a total capacity of 20 of these advanced, JDAMs can now be carried inside the bomb bay of the B-52H Stratofortress, following the 1760 Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade.
stealthy cruise missiles. The upgrade also increases the number of JDAMs that can be externally carried to 16, for a total payload increase of 100 percent.

8 Aerotech News and Review June 3, 2016

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