美 공군 ACC 사령관, F-35A CTOL 운용유지비는 예상보다 적을 것이다...

 

美 공군 ACC (전투사령부 혹은 작전사령부) Commander Fraser 공군대장이 인터뷰에서 언급한 내용을 소개합니다.

지난 20일 AW&ST 紙와 가진 인터뷰에서 Fraser 대장은, 최근 미 해군이 추정한 향후 65년간 F-35 JSF 운용유지비에

4,442억불에 대해서 동의할 수 없다고 했다는 내용입니다.

 

또한 미 공군이 도입 운용할 F-35A CTOL 형은 미 해군/해병대가 도입 운용하는 F-35B/C 형들 보다는 운용유지비가

저렴할 것이라는 주장과 함께 도입 물량 역시 당초 계획한 대로 1,763대를 도입하겠다고 했습니다.

 

뭐 도입 물량에 있어서는 최근 상급자인 미 공군참모총장이, 다소 정치적으로, 언급한 1,500대 이상 도입 발언 보다는

앞서가는 발언으로 해석되기도 합니다만, 이는 미 공군의 모든 작전을 책임지고 있는 실무 사령관의 입장에서 본다면,

충분히 이해가 되는 발언으로 생각합니다.

 

아래 소개하는 사진들은 지난 5월 17일 F-35A CTOL 1, 2호기들이 (AF-01 & AF-02) Texas 州 Fort Worth Lockheed

Martin 공장을 이륙, California 州 Edwards 공군기지를 향해 나란히 비행하는 모습과 착륙 장면 입니다. 이들 2대의

F-35A 기들은 앞으로 미 공군 AFFTC (Air Force Flight Test Center) 주관하에 각종 성능평가를 받을 예정입니다. 

 

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ACC Chief Disagrees With Navy F-35 Maintenance Projection

Aviation Week.com, 05/24/2010

Author : Amy Butler

 

USAF Air Combat Command chief Gen. William Fraser says he does not agree with the Navy’s projections that the F-35 will cost more to maintain than previously expected.

 

Officials at Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) have predicted a higher cost for operating the system over 65 years than has the Joint Strike Fighter’s joint program office (JPO), which is managing procurement of the triservice, nine-nation aircraft. The Navair study recently stated that 65 years of sustainment for the single-engine stealthy fighter could cost about $442 billion (Fiscal 2002 dollars) more than planned.

 

“We don’t agree with the Navy numbers,” Fraser said during a May 20 interview with AVIATION WEEK. “Based on everything that I’m seeing, I have confidence right now in the other numbers [from the JPO], and not necessarily the Navy numbers.”

 

The Navy will operate the carrier version while the Marine Corps will use the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) version.

 

The Air Force is expected to operate the preponderance of the U.S. fleet; it is planning to buy 1,763 of the conventional-takeoff-and-landing aircraft. Fraser says he is holding firm on the 1,763 requirement; recently the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, said he expected to buy “more than 1,500” of the fighters. This was seen by some as him backing off of the long-standing 1,763 requirement.

 

“We have not changed our requirement here at ACC,” Fraser says. He says he has not been asked to produce any contingency plans should the number shrink. This would most likely happen due to affordability problems. If the Pentagon’s predictions are true and the per-unit cost goes up about 57%, buying a full complement of F-35s could be untenable in the current fiscal environment.

 

Fraser also says he is optimistic by recent progress in the F-35 development program, which has fallen under greater scrutiny due to a low-sortie production rate and delayed deliveries of test aircraft by prime contractor Lockheed Martin. “The predictive models that we are seeing on what we are going to be able to get out of each of the test points are better than – I think – some of the things we’ve seen in the past,” Fraser says. “The modeling has gotten better and … we are meeting those [predictions], and we are seeing what we had expected out of it.”

 

 

Lockheed officials say that by June all 20 of the flight- and ground-test aircraft will be off of the company’s production line in Fort Worth, Texas. By year end, 395 flight test sorties are required, which would bring the program’s total to about 58. This is slightly more than the 5,000 sorties planned for the entire test program of all three variants (Aerospace DAILY, May 4).

 

 

  ⓒ USAF

 

  ⓒ USAF

 

  ⓒ USAF