The heavy lifting is done (90% reduction of open issues over last year’s numbers) and there were very few issues with the jet itself. IIRC the only one was accuracy issues with the F-35A’s gun (F-35B/C pod is fine).
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Based on F-35A gun testing through September 2018, DOT&E currently considers the accuracy of the gun, as installed in the F-35A, to be unacceptable.
– F-35A gun accuracy during SDD failed to meet the contract specifi cation. Although software corrections were made to the F-35 mission systems software to improve the stability of gun aiming cues, no software or hardware corrections have yet been implemented to correct the gun accuracy errors.
– Investigations into the gun mounts of the F-35A revealed misalignments that result in muzzle alignment errors. As a result, the true alignment of each F-35A gun is not known, so the program is considering options for re-boresighting and correcting gun alignments.
– During air-to-air gun testing, F-35A operational test pilots received intermittent “unsafe gun” cockpit alerts while attempting gun attacks. These alerts occurred with two diff erent aircraft; the root cause is under investigation.
– F-35B and F-35C air-to-ground accuracy results to date with the gun pod have been consistent and meet the contract specifi cations. They do not show the accuracy errors of the internal gun on the F-35A.
Availability improved only slightly, mostly due to parts & the needs for Depots.
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