The USAF Has To Re-Paint Its Trucks Because The F-35 Can’t Fly On Warm Fuel

[rangerrebew]

- The Daily Caller - http://dailycaller.com -



The USAF Has To Re-Paint Its Trucks Because The F-35 Can’t Fly On Warm Fuel

Posted By Giuseppe Macri On 10:39 PM 12/08/2014 In | No Comments
 


After a year of several fleet-wide groundings for the F-35, the latest problem to plague the fifth-generation fighter is forcing the U.S. Air Force to revamp an entirely separate fleet to support the military’s most expensive plane.

The F-35 can only fly on jet fuel under a certain temperature due to the high heat output of the F-35B variant’s short takeoff and vertical landing engine and other powerful subsystems. According to the USAF, the dark-green trucks that carry fuel absorb too much heat from the sun to keep the planes in the sky. (RELATED: Entire F-35 Fleet Grounded Ahead Of July 4 Holiday)

That presents a serious logistical problem for an advanced multi-role fleet expected to maintain U.S. air superiority in areas of potential conflict such as the Middle East and South Pacific — areas with no shortage of sunlight.

For the time being the Air Force is addressing the issue by painting the tanker trailers of the trucks a bright reflective white to repel sunlight absorption. That presents a whole new problem for the safety of the trucks, which will be necessary to support the Joint Strike Fighter on forward deployments where large white tankers full of highly flammable fuel could make easy targets.


“We painted the refuelers white to reduce the temperature of fuel being delivered to the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter,” Senior Airman Jacob Hartman of the 56th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona said in an Air Force news report. “The F-35 has a fuel temperature threshold and may not function properly if the fuel temperature is too high, so after collaborating with other bases and receiving waiver approval from [the Air Education Training Command], we painted the tanks white.”

Luke AFB reportedly got the idea from Edwards AFB in California, where Air Force personnel first discovered the problem some time ago.

 
“It ensures the F-35 is able to meet its sortie requirements,” Chief Master Sgt. Ralph Resch, fuels manager of the 56th LRS, said in the report. “We are taking proactive measures to mitigate any possible aircraft shutdowns due to high fuel temperatures in the future.”

“This is the short-term goal to cool the fuel for the F-35; however, the long-term fix is to have parking shades for the refuelers.”

The Air Force also plans to try incorporating reflective paint into the trucks’ standard green to reduce the heat absorption and maintain cover. Though the cost of the paint is $3,900 per-truck, it’s undoubtedly cheaper than another costly fix to the entire fleet, which uses the fuel as a coolant to absorb heat from the JSF’s powerful subsystems before passing into the engine. (RELATED: Three Years And Several Fixes Later, The F-35 Finally Lands On An Aircraft Carrier)

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URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/08/the-usaf-has-to-re-paint-its-trucks-because-the-f-35-cant-fly-on-warm-fuel/

[SPQR]

So many problems with the F-35 program.

[rangerrebew]

So many problems with the F-35 program.

It almost makes one wonder if Obama has been intentionally having the program screwed up by his people so it won't be successful.

[EC]

It almost makes one wonder if Obama has been intentionally having the program screwed up by his people so it won't be successful.

Almost, but he really doesn't need to. Increasing complexity is a geometrical progression. A single task vehicle is fairly simple to design and build. Want it to do two tasks, the complexity goes up by 4. The F-35 has at least 7 different and often mutually contradictory roles to fit into one airframe.

[SPQR]

It almost makes one wonder if Obama has been intentionally having the program screwed up by his people so it won't be successful.

Obama is not messing with this program. Lockheed Martin is at fault here. Lockheed Martin is pushing the envelope in the technological development of the plane and as a consequence they are way over budget. They are so over budget the USAF is keeping a very close eye on them and holding them on the promise that the planes will be ready by their scheduled delivery dates. Cutting the military budgets are dangerous when you have a Russia rising back from the ashes, and a unpredictable China and North Korea.


http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/04/03/f-35-fighters-plagued-with-delays-cost-overruns-federal-report-says/

[SPQR]

Almost, but he really doesn't need to. Increasing complexity is a geometrical progression. A single task vehicle is fairly simple to design and build. Want it to do two tasks, the complexity goes up by 4. The F-35 has at least 7 different and often mutually contradictory roles to fit into one airframe.

You are correct. Lockheed Martin is packing all these bells and whistles into one single plane. Thus they are running into cost over runs. The plane already has 8 to 9 million lines of software codes in it.F-35 software enables:

•Flight controls
•Radar functionality
•Communications, navigation and identification
•Electronic attack
•Sensor fusion
•Weapons deployment

[rangerrebew]

Obama is not messing with this program. Lockheed Martin is at fault here. Lockheed Martin is pushing the envelope in the technological development of the plane and as a consequence they are way over budget. They are so over budget the USAF is keeping a very close eye on them and holding them on the promise that the planes will be ready by their scheduled delivery dates. Cutting the military budgets are dangerous when you have a Russia rising back from the ashes, and a unpredictable China and North Korea.


http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/04/03/f-35-fighters-plagued-with-delays-cost-overruns-federal-report-says/

Cutting the military budget isn't messing with the program?  I know, I know - the cuts are for all programs, not just the F 35.  I just like to blame  Obama if there is a chance. :peeonobama:

[Oceander]

Almost, but he really doesn't need to. Increasing complexity is a geometrical progression. A single task vehicle is fairly simple to design and build. Want it to do two tasks, the complexity goes up by 4. The F-35 has at least 7 different and often mutually contradictory roles to fit into one airframe.

design by committee

[240B]

That would be dream job for any soldier. Driving a snowwhite reflective fuel truck in a hot zone? Where do I sign!

[SPQR]

Cutting the military budget isn't messing with the program?  I know, I know - the cuts are for all programs, not just the F 35.  I just like to blame  Obama if there is a chance. :peeonobama:

Its the USAF and Lockheed Martin's problem. The Air Force wanted too many bells and whistles packed in one plane. There are about 8 million lines of software codes on that plane covering everything the USAF wanted. The military gets 5 percent of the gross domestic product in spending. The USA spends about 619 billion dollars on defense. In 2011, the military spent about 671 billion dollars on the military.Lastly Congress has the power of the purse not the executive branch.

[SPQR]

Its the USAF and Lockheed Martin's problem. The Air Force wanted too many bells and whistles packed in one plane. There are about 8 million lines of software codes on that plane covering everything the USAF wanted. The military gets 5 percent of the gross domestic product in spending. The USA spends about 619 billion dollars on defense. In 2011, the military spent about 671 billion dollars on the military.Lastly Congress has the power of the purse not the executive branch.

However, the United States continues to account for almost half of all military spending by democracies.The cost of military hardware has grown more than inflation.