The Air Force’s goal of declaring initial operational capability (IOC) for its F-35A on Aug. 1 is at risk due to issues with the latest version of its Automated Logistics Information Program (ALIS), according to a key officer.

F-35 Program Executive Officer (PEO) Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan said Thursday there is probably 45 to 60 days of risk to reaching the Aug. 1 deadline and that he wasn’t sure if that risk can be mitigated. He added the official IOC window runs through Dec. 1.

It is complicated to improve the capability of ALIS with different modules in service, he said, because they all have to work together and talk together. As the F-35 program has evolved, newer F-35 aircraft have entered testing with newer, improved versions of ALIS. Those versions still have to work with older versions of the software. The Air Force needs an upgraded ALIS version, 2.0.2, if it wants to reach its IOC goal (Defense Daily, Sept. 14).

“We’re going as fast as we can and industry is going as fast as they can, but I’m not 100 percent sure we can make up that time,” Bogdan told an audience at the Credit Suisse-McAleese and Associates conference in downtown Washington. “We’ll know as we get closer this spring and summer.”

ALIS is “always” at the top of the F-35 program’s list of problems, Bogdan said, due to its complexity. With 16 million lines of code, ALIS enables F-35 operators to plan ahead to maintain and sustain its systems over the lifecycle of the jet, according to F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT]. ALIS provides the information technology (IT) backbone and capabilities to continuously capture and analyze the fleet’s overall readiness. JPO spokesman Joe DellaVedova said ALIS 2.0.2 incorporates the F135 engine for the first time.

Bogdan also sent a subtle message to F135 engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, suggesting that the company look for ways to drive down the cost of the engine after winning a presumably lucrative deal to produce the engine for the Air Force’s new Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB). The Air Force earlier this week revealed Pratt & Whitney as one of its subcontractors for the program, a secret it closely held for months.

Bogdan vowed to press ahead and get a block buy of three F-35 lots, an idea criticized by the Defense Department’s top weapons tester in his annual report. Bogdan said it was too difficult for DoD to get the money to start a block buy in Lot 12, so it will try to start a three-lot block buy in Lot 13.

Even though Bogdan claimed this could save the F-35 program more than $2 billion, Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) Michael Gilmore criticized both the logic and legality of the proposed block buy in his February report. Gilmore said the program continues to discover significant problems during developmental testing that, if not addressed with corrections or, in some cases, labor-intensive workarounds, will adversely affect the operational effectiveness and suitability of all three variants. The three lot block buy could include as many as 270 jets, Gilmore said in his report (Defense Daily, Feb. 1).

“There’s no reason why they couldn’t structure a business case that would allow the partners and Foreign Military Sale nations to start a block buy in Lot 12,” Bogdan said. “When the services are ready and have that upfront money…we can bring that…into Lots 13 and 14. We’re trying to sort out how we would get that done if that is indeed what we have to do.”

The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin with subcontractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman [NOC]. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX].