Engine maker Rolls-Royce has finished about 90 percent of the work necessary for the Marine Corps to declare the F-35B battle ready on July 1, according to Vice President of Customer Business Tom Hartmann.
The company provides the lift fan, directional bearing swivel module and roll posts for the short-takeoff, vertical landing variant of the F-35. It also builds the crank shaft that connects the lift fan to the main Pratt & Whitney [UTX] F135 engine that powers all three variants of the aircraft.
Rolls-Royce so far has built a total 54 lift fans for the existing fleet of F-35Bs and has delivered enough to the Marine Corps in support of the service declaring initial operational capability (IOC) on July 1, Hartmann said. At IOC the Marine Corps will have at least 20 lift fan modules, including spares, for its initial operation fleet of 16 F-35Bs.
“We’ve got a handful of lift fans left to deliver and everything else is in place,” Hartmann told reporters during a June 8 conference call. “It’s really just the spare modules to support IOC. They have everything they need in their operational jet to go.”
A fleet of six F-35Bs from May 18-29 completed the first round of operational test (OT-1) in the Atlantic aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) amphibious assault ship. During the testing, the six aircraft performed 108 sorties. Each pilot also carried out four take-offs and landings at night without the assistance of either night vision goggles or the jets’ distributed aperture system, according to the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO).
Maj. Michael H. Rountree, one of the OT-1 pilots, was quoted by the JPO as saying the jet was easier to fly than AV-8B Harrier, and that he was “a lot less terrified” landing in the F-35B.
The Marines also tested swapping out an engine module during the tests. A module was flown to the Wasp aboard an MV-22 Osprey, unloaded and transferred to an F-35B during one of 30 “maintenance demonstrations” performed, the Marine Corps said.
Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, said there were no “show stoppers” during OT-1 and was quoted as saying the F-35 B is “right at home at sea.”
Hartmann said the lift fan modules, and the hover capability of the aircraft “performed nearly flawlessly” during the testing.
“The most telling comment on how well the lift system is doing is that, from everything we’ve heard, the short takeoffs and vertical landings were boring,” Hartmann said.
“We’re quite confident,” in the STOVL capabilities of the F-35B and that Rolls-Royce will have completed its work in support of IOC, he said. “We have adequate spares out. We have adequate technical expertise alongside the Marines to maintain the system.”