Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2008

Progress thrills F-35 program chief: Q&A

By Bob Cox

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Maj. Gen. Charles Davis

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Anytime he can escape Washington, Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Davis likes to head to Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth.

What's here for Davis, program executive officer for the F-35? "A chance to go to the factory floor and see what's going on. I get excited," he says.

Despite well-chronicled delays and budget overruns in development of the Fort Worth-built F-35, Davis said in an interview with the Star-Telegram that real progress is being made and that all signs indicate that the program is on track.

"I'm excited that in August 2006, we told Deputy Secretary [Gordon] England we would fly the STOVL [short-takeoff-vertical-landing] airplane on May 23, 2008, and by golly we're going to get within a couple of weeks of that."

Here's what else is on Davis' mind:

What technical or other issues hanging over the program worry you?

The SDD [system design and development] schedule is still a challenge, but nothing we can't handle. We've got to continue to work through a few technical issues on the flight-control actuators. It's not major issues, but it's stuff we should be focused on.

I do worry a little bit down the road about ramping up the production system if increased orders come in.

Have the problems with the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine fan blades been resolved, or at least the causes identified?

We continue to believe we understand what the problem was. They were doing some testing last week to generate data that would confirm that. Once they've got the data they will then model it and make sure the design fixes will solve the problem.

What unknowns concern you once you start performing vertical flights in the F-35B STOVL version?

We already did the conversion work [from vertical to conventional flight] with the X-35. That tells us the design should work. Will we learn things about the flight-control system? Absolutely. We'll go through flight test and we'll find some things and we'll change things.

Having flown AA-1 [the original test aircraft] has taught us a lot about flight controls and power systems that I'm glad we learned before we built 15 other airplanes.

We're going to have a new administration in a few months. Have you seen or heard anything that concerns you that, depending on who is elected, that would indicate a lack of support or that would threaten the F-35 program?

So far nothing I've seen shows we have a political enemy. On other programs out there have been some folks who were very critical and very outspoken. We haven't had that. We've got a lot of good support from both sides of the House.

I'm not concerned about the political landscape. I'm concerned that we're able to deliver on schedule and cost and everything we've promised the services.

Some observers say any new administration is likely to slow defense spending, that some choices will have to be made.

We'll just have to see how the next administration and Congress play out. That's just what we live with here.