Feedback on ALIS from Marine maintainers

ALIS has been a frequent target for critics of the F-35 program — not without reason, as the system struggled to get off the ground in the early days of the jet, and the system has been the focus of recent delays.

But as the debate about ALIS’ viability continues in Washington, those who use ALIS on a regular basis say they are satisfied with how the system has been operating so far.

A group of four Marine maintainers from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina, the training hub for the F-35B for both the Corps and the United Kingdom, told reporters during an April 14 visit that ALIS has made their life easier.

Asked what the biggest benefit of ALIS is, one Marine cited the direction it gives a team of maintainers. “Walking you step through step. There’s literally a signoff for every task you do, every action you do,” he said.

“Compared to how it was originally, it’s night and day,” said another when asked about updates to the system. “The transition has been good. Every upgrade they do is easy to get ahold of, get your head around. It’s been pretty consistent as far as maintainability.”

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/support/2016/04/27/f35-marine-maintainers-alis-uk-us-f35b/83614074/

Bogdan confirmed that the Air Force’s variant of the strike fighter would be delayed by an additional 60 days and would not reach initial operating capability, its minimum usefully deployable form, until October 2016.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/26/politics/f-35-delay-air-force/

I can’t see it reaching a minimum usefully deployable form by October 2016. I think it will be introduced with an IOC that is not actually an initial operating capability.

After 15 years of development and billions of dollars of investment, software glitches continue to hamper Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II operations and in one case, just one of six US Air Force F-35As on a mock deployment to Mountain Home AFB in Idaho were able to takeoff during an alert launch exercise.

“The Air Force attempted two alert launch procedures during the Mountain Home deployment, where multiple F-35A aircraft were preflighted and prepared for a rapid launch, but only one of the six aircraft was able to complete the alert launch sequence and successfully takeoff,” the Pentagon’s top weapons tester disclosed in written testimony to Congress on 26 April. “Problems during startup that required system or aircraft shutdowns and restarts – a symptom of immature systems and software – prevented the other alert launches from being completed.”

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/f-35-chief-considers-fix-for-troubling-block-3i-soft-424650/

Is this aircraft ready for operation?

Finland Mulls Investment In Drones Alongside New Fighter Jets

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/173306/finland-may-buy-combat-drones-alongside-new-fighters.html

Would that help decide which fighter to choose?

the iaf stares at amassive crisis as its aircraft age and replacements are delayed

In a death spiral

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indian-air-force-iaf-aircraft/1/642492.html

It is trapped between costly imports on the one hand and the dysfunctional public sector monopoly of HAL on the other. The IAF placed orders for two squadrons of 40 LCAs on the Aeronautical Development Agency in 2007. Till date, just one aircraft has been delivered. Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak, founding additional director of Centre for Air Power Studies, traces the root cause of the IAF’s woes to the decades-old practice of research production agencies overestimating indigenous capability and delivery timelines. “It is this ‘overpromise-underdeliver’ syndrome, never questioned by political leadership, that has brought the IAF to this sorry pass,” he says.

Death spiral? That’s rather extreme to me.

I won’t comment on what the retired air vice marshal said since some Indian posters find my comments objectionable except to say that a first step in transitioning from failure to success is to acknowledge that you are failing and where you are failing (if you are capable of seeing that).

Congress Looks Into Restarting the F-22 Raptor

Congress is looking into restarting production of the F-22 fighter jet, according to a defense bill proposal released Tuesday.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/173157/congress-mulls-restarting-f_22-production.html

?