The Federal Government Needs a Lemon Law

[rangerrebew]

The Federal Government Needs a Lemon Law

Checking back in with the F-35, the Flying Swiss Army Knife and king boondoggle of the federal budget.
By Charles P. Pierce   
Jun 23, 2020
 
It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with the F-35, the Flying Swiss Army Knife and king boondoggle of the federal budget. This lemon is out in the world now. People are flying it. And then, some framastat breaks in its connectagazoint and the fun begins again. From Bloomberg:

    The House Oversight and Reform Committee is examining Lockheed’s “failure to provide F-35 spare parts that meet contract requirements,” Representative Carolyn Maloney, the committee’s chairwoman, and Representative Stephen Lynch, who heads its national security panel, said in a letter to James Taiclet, Lockheed’s new chief executive officer, dated June 18. On multiple base visits starting late last year, committee staff “learned troubling information about how unresolved issues with F-35 spare parts lead to excess costs” as the military must “divert personnel to troubleshoot these issues and use extensive workarounds to keep F-35 planes flying,” the lawmakers wrote. One commander warned that problems with the electronic logs needed to track each part’s vital information are “pervasive” and that time spent resolving them is a “massive manpower suck." Investigations have discovered instances of logs missing or containing inaccurate or corrupted information. The logs contain information such as a part’s history and its remaining useful life. Parts aren’t supposed to be installed without the data.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a32947124/f35-spare-parts-lockheed-requirements/

[PeteS in CA]

A "lemon law"? Seriously? Let's pretend the USAF and USN could turn in their F-35s for replacement .......... ummmmmm ........ replacement with what? F-15EXs are a good update, apparently, but they are very different aircraft. Not stealthy in the least, and not usable from ships like the Wasps and Americas (and probably not suitable for landing on a regular CVN, either). F-16s and F-18s are being upgraded, but they, too, are dissimilar from F-35s.

So, turn in the F-35s for what?

And spare parts shortages make F-35s a "lemon"? Does that mean that the F-100 engine shortages of the late 1970s made the F-15s and F-16s "lemons"? Puh-leeeeez!

And why is Esquire magazine considered a credible news source, anyway? Especially when they publish stupidity like this article?

[SZonian]

The "article" as it were, is short on relevant facts.

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/06/23/house-committee-targets-lockheed-in-probe-of-f-35-parts-problems/

[PeteS in CA]

The "article" as it were, is short on relevant facts.

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/06/23/house-committee-targets-lockheed-in-probe-of-f-35-parts-problems/

From that article:

The problem cited by the committee centers around the “electronic equipment logs,” which are available to maintainers using ALIS. Each electronic log consists of detailed data, including a part’s history and remaining service life, that follows certain F-35 spare parts as they move from its manufacturer to the end user.

However, not every supplier that builds F-35 parts uses the ALIS system or inputs information in a standardized way, and parts frequently arrive on the flight line with incomplete or incorrect information, the Government Accountability Office said in 2019.

Fixing the data logs for complex systems like the F-35 ejection seat can take hours and impact F-35 availability. According to a 2019 audit by the Defense Department’s inspector general, if a spare part is missing its electronic log, a maintainer must put the part aside and submit a request to Lockheed to provide the information. Lockheed then charges the department for the costs of resolving the issue.

The result can be F-35s sitting on the flight line unable to fly, while maintainers wait for Lockheed support personnel to fetch electronic records so they can make a needed repair.

If I understand the above correctly, the parts that are temporarily unusable may be perfectly fine, but the electronic tracking info is incorrect. And it sounds like the problem is with suppliers upstream from Lockheed, and Lockheed isn't whipping those suppliers into line.

Denigrating the F-35 is its own cottage industry, and some of the criticism was warranted at a particular time, but this problem is not with the F-35 design but with parts suppliers complying with the trackability requirements of their contracts.

[Cyber Liberty]

And why is Esquire magazine considered a credible news source, anyway? Especially when they publish stupidity like this article?

They're right up there with Politicus USA.