"Costly Flaws Found In Navy's Top Jet: Wing mechanism wear could halve flight hours"

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...navys_top_jet/

Boston Globe
May 17, 2007
Costly Flaws Found In Navy's Top Jet: Wing mechanism wear could halve
flight hours
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Engineers have uncovered a flaw in the Navy's top
fighter jet that could reduce by half the aircraft's advertised
service life and potentially cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars in repairs, according to Pentagon documents and military and
industry officials. A mechanism inside the wings of the F/A-18 Super
Hornet, manufactured by Boeing Co., is wearing out prematurely,
prompting the Navy to order the company to make changes in the plane's
production as well as retrofit several hundred planes already
operating off the decks of Navy aircraft carriers, according to a Navy
official. Officials stressed that they are not considering whether to
ground the workhorse jet, because the problem does not affect its
operation. Still, the "fatigue life issue," if uncorrected, would
drastically shorten the $50 million aircraft's life span from 6,000
flight hours to 3,000 hours, the documents warn. "Through testing of
Super Hornets they discovered there is a fatigue issue on part of the
inside of one of the wings," a Navy official confirmed in a statement
yesterday. "From here on out every aircraft will be made so they don't
have the problem." The official said at least 193 planes now in
service will be retrofitted beginning in 2010. The plane was
introduced in 1999. But the wing is apparently not the only thing that
needs to be retrofitted, according to the Navy official, who asked not
to be named because he is not authorized to speak for the program. The
Navy did not comment officially about the problem despite numerous
requests. The current fleet of Super Hornets is slated to receive a
total of 40 modifications, both major and minor; additionally, a
separate problem with the aircraft's wing flaps could limit even
further the plane's ability to fly safely, the documents show. Special
fatigue tests now underway to identify a fix for the second wing
problem are set to be completed in July. Navy officials said they will
not know the price tag for retrofitting the wings until an
"engineering change proposal" outlining solutions is completed in the
coming months. Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington
Institute, a defense and public policy think tank, said any structural
problem in the jet's wing "is a much bigger problem" that will require
expensive, time-consuming repairs. "It would be very costly to go back
and refit" the jets, Thompson said. "Usually, if there is fatigue or
corrosion problems [on aircraft wings], it is [on] the outside part
that is exposed to the elements. When you develop a fatigue problem
inside the wing, the challenge of fixing it grows. "The cost, the man
hours, the time the aircraft are out of service: No matter how you
want to measure it, it is not minor." The Navy plans to build 210
Super Hornets over the next five years. Ninety of the planes will be
outfitted with advanced radar and high-tech sensors to jam enemy
electronics. That version, known as the Growler, is awaiting approval
to begin initial production next year. Australia recently signed a
$2.4 billion deal to purchase 24 Super Hornets, the first sale in what
Boeing hopes will be a growing foreign market for the aircraft. The
structural problem in the wings has emerged at a time when Boeing has
proposed selling the Navy at least 100 more Super Hornets in case the
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- the Pentagon's next-generation attack jet
now under development -- is delayed further, according to news
reports. The F-35, produced by Boeing rival Lockheed Martin, is not
expected to enter service for eight years. The Super Hornet is 25
percent larger than its predecessor, which was first widely introduced
in the 1980s. Considered one of the Pentagon's most complex aircraft,
the Super Hornet became the Navy's mainstay jet after the infamous
A-12 stealth aircraft project -- launched to replace the aging,
earlier-model Hornets -- collapsed. Some critics argue that the design
changes and upgrades in the latest generation Hornets were so
significant that the Super Hornet project should have been scrutinized
as though it were an entirely new aircraft line -- rather than the
more cursory look reserved for modifications of earlier-model
aircraft. "They never built a prototype," said James P. Stevenson, a
military aircraft specialist and author of "The Pentagon Paradox,"
which reserves a chapter for the F/A-18 program. "After 25 years of
development they still haven't got it right." Indeed, the F/A-18
program has had a series of aerodynamic and structural problems over
the years. As far back as the early 1980s, the first versions of the
Hornets also had problems with premature wear and tear on the
airframe, requiring significant retrofitting. Those structural issues
have been more pronounced with the Super Hornet. For example, testing
of the Super Hornet in the late 1990s revealed that the plane would
"flutter" during certain maneuvers -- a flaw that nearly brought the
program to a standstill. It required the Navy and Boeing to make
substantial changes to the wings and pylons. Yet while those
adjustments made the flutter "manageable," according to the new
documents, it produced a new problem: accelerated wear on some of the
missiles carried under the wings, according to the documents. Now, the
Navy and Boeing are scrambling to come up with a solution for the
Super Hornet's wing fatigue, which first showed up in tests in 2005,
the Navy official said. The prediction that the flaw could drastically
cut the jet's anticipated life pan amazed some defense analysts .
"That would be a significant decrease," said Richard Aboulafia, a
defense analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va. Still, the documents
indicate the Navy and Boeing are confident they know how to fix the
problem. A proposal "that will address the inter-wing retro fit" is
expected within a few months, according to a document prepared by
Naval Air Systems Command and provided to the Globe. "Not until 2008
will aircraft roll off the line with full life" if Boeing makes the
necessary adjustments to its production, according to the document.

Such things happen. The F-14 had time compliance requirements (about 10
various airframe mods IIRC) to get through the 3000 hour mark on the earlier
production aircraft. Even with the most sophisticated CAD, sometimes things
don't work in service as they're projected in design.

R / John

Shades of the A-6 rewinging program - performed by Boeing, IIRC.

--
Mike Kanze

"Son, this is a Washington, D.C. kind of lie. It's when the other person knows you're lying and also knows you know he knows."

- Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda), Advise And Consent, 1962


"Mike" wrote in message oups.com...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...navys_top_jet/

Boston Globe
May 17, 2007
Costly Flaws Found In Navy's Top Jet: Wing mechanism wear could halve
flight hours
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Engineers have uncovered a flaw in the Navy's top
fighter jet that could reduce by half the aircraft's advertised
service life and potentially cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars in repairs, according to Pentagon documents and military and
industry officials. A mechanism inside the wings of the F/A-18 Super
Hornet, manufactured by Boeing Co., is wearing out prematurely,
prompting the Navy to order the company to make changes in the plane's
production as well as retrofit several hundred planes already
operating off the decks of Navy aircraft carriers, according to a Navy
official. Officials stressed that they are not considering whether to
ground the workhorse jet, because the problem does not affect its
operation. Still, the "fatigue life issue," if uncorrected, would
drastically shorten the $50 million aircraft's life span from 6,000
flight hours to 3,000 hours, the documents warn. "Through testing of
Super Hornets they discovered there is a fatigue issue on part of the
inside of one of the wings," a Navy official confirmed in a statement
yesterday. "From here on out every aircraft will be made so they don't
have the problem." The official said at least 193 planes now in
service will be retrofitted beginning in 2010. The plane was
introduced in 1999. But the wing is apparently not the only thing that
needs to be retrofitted, according to the Navy official, who asked not
to be named because he is not authorized to speak for the program. The
Navy did not comment officially about the problem despite numerous
requests. The current fleet of Super Hornets is slated to receive a
total of 40 modifications, both major and minor; additionally, a
separate problem with the aircraft's wing flaps could limit even
further the plane's ability to fly safely, the documents show. Special
fatigue tests now underway to identify a fix for the second wing
problem are set to be completed in July. Navy officials said they will
not know the price tag for retrofitting the wings until an
"engineering change proposal" outlining solutions is completed in the
coming months. Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington
Institute, a defense and public policy think tank, said any structural
problem in the jet's wing "is a much bigger problem" that will require
expensive, time-consuming repairs. "It would be very costly to go back
and refit" the jets, Thompson said. "Usually, if there is fatigue or
corrosion problems [on aircraft wings], it is [on] the outside part
that is exposed to the elements. When you develop a fatigue problem
inside the wing, the challenge of fixing it grows. "The cost, the man
hours, the time the aircraft are out of service: No matter how you
want to measure it, it is not minor." The Navy plans to build 210
Super Hornets over the next five years. Ninety of the planes will be
outfitted with advanced radar and high-tech sensors to jam enemy
electronics. That version, known as the Growler, is awaiting approval
to begin initial production next year. Australia recently signed a
$2.4 billion deal to purchase 24 Super Hornets, the first sale in what
Boeing hopes will be a growing foreign market for the aircraft. The
structural problem in the wings has emerged at a time when Boeing has
proposed selling the Navy at least 100 more Super Hornets in case the
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- the Pentagon's next-generation attack jet
now under development -- is delayed further, according to news
reports. The F-35, produced by Boeing rival Lockheed Martin, is not
expected to enter service for eight years. The Super Hornet is 25
percent larger than its predecessor, which was first widely introduced
in the 1980s. Considered one of the Pentagon's most complex aircraft,
the Super Hornet became the Navy's mainstay jet after the infamous
A-12 stealth aircraft project -- launched to replace the aging,
earlier-model Hornets -- collapsed. Some critics argue that the design
changes and upgrades in the latest generation Hornets were so
significant that the Super Hornet project should have been scrutinized
as though it were an entirely new aircraft line -- rather than the
more cursory look reserved for modifications of earlier-model
aircraft. "They never built a prototype," said James P. Stevenson, a
military aircraft specialist and author of "The Pentagon Paradox,"
which reserves a chapter for the F/A-18 program. "After 25 years of
development they still haven't got it right." Indeed, the F/A-18
program has had a series of aerodynamic and structural problems over
the years. As far back as the early 1980s, the first versions of the
Hornets also had problems with premature wear and tear on the
airframe, requiring significant retrofitting. Those structural issues
have been more pronounced with the Super Hornet. For example, testing
of the Super Hornet in the late 1990s revealed that the plane would
"flutter" during certain maneuvers -- a flaw that nearly brought the
program to a standstill. It required the Navy and Boeing to make
substantial changes to the wings and pylons. Yet while those
adjustments made the flutter "manageable," according to the new
documents, it produced a new problem: accelerated wear on some of the
missiles carried under the wings, according to the documents. Now, the
Navy and Boeing are scrambling to come up with a solution for the
Super Hornet's wing fatigue, which first showed up in tests in 2005,
the Navy official said. The prediction that the flaw could drastically
cut the jet's anticipated life pan amazed some defense analysts .
"That would be a significant decrease," said Richard Aboulafia, a
defense analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va. Still, the documents
indicate the Navy and Boeing are confident they know how to fix the
problem. A proposal "that will address the inter-wing retro fit" is
expected within a few months, according to a document prepared by
Naval Air Systems Command and provided to the Globe. "Not until 2008
will aircraft roll off the line with full life" if Boeing makes the
necessary adjustments to its production, according to the document.

On May 17, 8:35 am, Mike wrote:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...007/05/17/cost...

Boston Globe
May 17, 2007
Costly Flaws Found In Navy's Top Jet: Wing mechanism wear could halve
flight hours
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Engineers have uncovered a flaw in the Navy's top
fighter jet that could reduce by half the aircraft's advertised
service life and potentially cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars in repairs, according to Pentagon documents and military and
industry officials. A mechanism inside the wings of the F/A-18 Super
Hornet, manufactured by Boeing Co., is wearing out prematurely,
prompting the Navy to order the company to make changes in the plane's
production as well as retrofit several hundred planes already
operating off the decks of Navy aircraft carriers, according to a Navy
official. Officials stressed that they are not considering whether to
ground the workhorse jet, because the problem does not affect its
operation. Still, the "fatigue life issue," if uncorrected, would
drastically shorten the $50 million aircraft's life span from 6,000
flight hours to 3,000 hours, the documents warn. "Through testing of
Super Hornets they discovered there is a fatigue issue on part of the
inside of one of the wings," a Navy official confirmed in a statement
yesterday. "From here on out every aircraft will be made so they don't
have the problem." The official said at least 193 planes now in
service will be retrofitted beginning in 2010. The plane was
introduced in 1999. But the wing is apparently not the only thing that
needs to be retrofitted, according to the Navy official, who asked not
to be named because he is not authorized to speak for the program. The
Navy did not comment officially about the problem despite numerous
requests. The current fleet of Super Hornets is slated to receive a
total of 40 modifications, both major and minor; additionally, a
separate problem with the aircraft's wing flaps could limit even
further the plane's ability to fly safely, the documents show. Special
fatigue tests now underway to identify a fix for the second wing
problem are set to be completed in July. Navy officials said they will
not know the price tag for retrofitting the wings until an
"engineering change proposal" outlining solutions is completed in the
coming months. Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington
Institute, a defense and public policy think tank, said any structural
problem in the jet's wing "is a much bigger problem" that will require
expensive, time-consuming repairs. "It would be very costly to go back
and refit" the jets, Thompson said. "Usually, if there is fatigue or
corrosion problems [on aircraft wings], it is [on] the outside part
that is exposed to the elements. When you develop a fatigue problem
inside the wing, the challenge of fixing it grows. "The cost, the man
hours, the time the aircraft are out of service: No matter how you
want to measure it, it is not minor." The Navy plans to build 210
Super Hornets over the next five years. Ninety of the planes will be
outfitted with advanced radar and high-tech sensors to jam enemy
electronics. That version, known as the Growler, is awaiting approval
to begin initial production next year. Australia recently signed a
$2.4 billion deal to purchase 24 Super Hornets, the first sale in what
Boeing hopes will be a growing foreign market for the aircraft. The
structural problem in the wings has emerged at a time when Boeing has
proposed selling the Navy at least 100 more Super Hornets in case the
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- the Pentagon's next-generation attack jet
now under development -- is delayed further, according to news
reports. The F-35, produced by Boeing rival Lockheed Martin, is not
expected to enter service for eight years. The Super Hornet is 25
percent larger than its predecessor, which was first widely introduced
in the 1980s. Considered one of the Pentagon's most complex aircraft,
the Super Hornet became the Navy's mainstay jet after the infamous
A-12 stealth aircraft project -- launched to replace the aging,
earlier-model Hornets -- collapsed. Some critics argue that the design
changes and upgrades in the latest generation Hornets were so
significant that the Super Hornet project should have been scrutinized
as though it were an entirely new aircraft line -- rather than the
more cursory look reserved for modifications of earlier-model
aircraft. "They never built a prototype," said James P. Stevenson, a
military aircraft specialist and author of "The Pentagon Paradox,"
which reserves a chapter for the F/A-18 program. "After 25 years of
development they still haven't got it right." Indeed, the F/A-18
program has had a series of aerodynamic and structural problems over
the years. As far back as the early 1980s, the first versions of the
Hornets also had problems with premature wear and tear on the
airframe, requiring significant retrofitting. Those structural issues
have been more pronounced with the Super Hornet. For example, testing
of the Super Hornet in the late 1990s revealed that the plane would
"flutter" during certain maneuvers -- a flaw that nearly brought the
program to a standstill. It required the Navy and Boeing to make
substantial changes to the wings and pylons. Yet while those
adjustments made the flutter "manageable," according to the new
documents, it produced a new problem: accelerated wear on some of the
missiles carried under the wings, according to the documents. Now, the
Navy and Boeing are scrambling to come up with a solution for the
Super Hornet's wing fatigue, which first showed up in tests in 2005,
the Navy official said. The prediction that the flaw could drastically
cut the jet's anticipated life pan amazed some defense analysts .
"That would be a significant decrease," said Richard Aboulafia, a
defense analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va. Still, the documents
indicate the Navy and Boeing are confident they know how to fix the
problem. A proposal "that will address the inter-wing retro fit" is
expected within a few months, according to a document prepared by
Naval Air Systems Command and provided to the Globe. "Not until 2008
will aircraft roll off the line with full life" if Boeing makes the
necessary adjustments to its production, according to the document.




You guys can't build ****!!

I see definite improvements in the way we do business which shoud be
the big news.

At least we found the problem now rather than 3000 hrs from now and
redline the whole fleet.

Other posts are spot on,,,this is not newsworthy, its normal.

WTF do you want the supplier to do? Test it and develop it until its
perfect and then we get the product 20 years from now?

There are ALWAYS probelms found after fielding of any weapons system,
its a trade-off.

Now go back to sleep.




On 17 May 2007 07:35:05 -0700, Mike wrote:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...navys_top_jet/

Boston Globe
May 17, 2007
Costly Flaws Found In Navy's Top Jet: Wing mechanism wear could halve
flight hours
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Engineers have uncovered a flaw in the Navy's top
fighter jet that could reduce by half the aircraft's advertised
service life and potentially cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars in repairs, according to Pentagon documents and military and
industry officials. A mechanism inside the wings of the F/A-18 Super
Hornet, manufactured by Boeing Co., is wearing out prematurely,
prompting the Navy to order the company to make changes in the plane's
production as well as retrofit several hundred planes already
operating off the decks of Navy aircraft carriers, according to a Navy
official. Officials stressed that they are not considering whether to
ground the workhorse jet, because the problem does not affect its
operation. Still, the "fatigue life issue," if uncorrected, would
drastically shorten the $50 million aircraft's life span from 6,000
flight hours to 3,000 hours, the documents warn. "Through testing of
Super Hornets they discovered there is a fatigue issue on part of the
inside of one of the wings," a Navy official confirmed in a statement
yesterday. "From here on out every aircraft will be made so they don't
have the problem." The official said at least 193 planes now in
service will be retrofitted beginning in 2010. The plane was
introduced in 1999. But the wing is apparently not the only thing that
needs to be retrofitted, according to the Navy official, who asked not
to be named because he is not authorized to speak for the program. The
Navy did not comment officially about the problem despite numerous
requests. The current fleet of Super Hornets is slated to receive a
total of 40 modifications, both major and minor; additionally, a
separate problem with the aircraft's wing flaps could limit even
further the plane's ability to fly safely, the documents show. Special
fatigue tests now underway to identify a fix for the second wing
problem are set to be completed in July. Navy officials said they will
not know the price tag for retrofitting the wings until an
"engineering change proposal" outlining solutions is completed in the
coming months. Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington
Institute, a defense and public policy think tank, said any structural
problem in the jet's wing "is a much bigger problem" that will require
expensive, time-consuming repairs. "It would be very costly to go back
and refit" the jets, Thompson said. "Usually, if there is fatigue or
corrosion problems [on aircraft wings], it is [on] the outside part
that is exposed to the elements. When you develop a fatigue problem
inside the wing, the challenge of fixing it grows. "The cost, the man
hours, the time the aircraft are out of service: No matter how you
want to measure it, it is not minor." The Navy plans to build 210
Super Hornets over the next five years. Ninety of the planes will be
outfitted with advanced radar and high-tech sensors to jam enemy
electronics. That version, known as the Growler, is awaiting approval
to begin initial production next year. Australia recently signed a
$2.4 billion deal to purchase 24 Super Hornets, the first sale in what
Boeing hopes will be a growing foreign market for the aircraft. The
structural problem in the wings has emerged at a time when Boeing has
proposed selling the Navy at least 100 more Super Hornets in case the
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- the Pentagon's next-generation attack jet
now under development -- is delayed further, according to news
reports. The F-35, produced by Boeing rival Lockheed Martin, is not
expected to enter service for eight years. The Super Hornet is 25
percent larger than its predecessor, which was first widely introduced
in the 1980s. Considered one of the Pentagon's most complex aircraft,
the Super Hornet became the Navy's mainstay jet after the infamous
A-12 stealth aircraft project -- launched to replace the aging,
earlier-model Hornets -- collapsed. Some critics argue that the design
changes and upgrades in the latest generation Hornets were so
significant that the Super Hornet project should have been scrutinized
as though it were an entirely new aircraft line -- rather than the
more cursory look reserved for modifications of earlier-model
aircraft. "They never built a prototype," said James P. Stevenson, a
military aircraft specialist and author of "The Pentagon Paradox,"
which reserves a chapter for the F/A-18 program. "After 25 years of
development they still haven't got it right." Indeed, the F/A-18
program has had a series of aerodynamic and structural problems over
the years. As far back as the early 1980s, the first versions of the
Hornets also had problems with premature wear and tear on the
airframe, requiring significant retrofitting. Those structural issues
have been more pronounced with the Super Hornet. For example, testing
of the Super Hornet in the late 1990s revealed that the plane would
"flutter" during certain maneuvers -- a flaw that nearly brought the
program to a standstill. It required the Navy and Boeing to make
substantial changes to the wings and pylons. Yet while those
adjustments made the flutter "manageable," according to the new
documents, it produced a new problem: accelerated wear on some of the
missiles carried under the wings, according to the documents. Now, the
Navy and Boeing are scrambling to come up with a solution for the
Super Hornet's wing fatigue, which first showed up in tests in 2005,
the Navy official said. The prediction that the flaw could drastically
cut the jet's anticipated life pan amazed some defense analysts .
"That would be a significant decrease," said Richard Aboulafia, a
defense analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va. Still, the documents
indicate the Navy and Boeing are confident they know how to fix the
problem. A proposal "that will address the inter-wing retro fit" is
expected within a few months, according to a document prepared by
Naval Air Systems Command and provided to the Globe. "Not until 2008
will aircraft roll off the line with full life" if Boeing makes the
necessary adjustments to its production, according to the document.

http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=2768119&C=airwar

Navy, Boeing Downplay Alleged Super Hornet Problems

(DEFENSE NEWS 17 MAY 07) ... Christopher P. Cavas
U.S. Navy and Boeing officials were quick to respond to a Boston Globe
story May 17 that alleged "costly flaws" in Super Hornet strike
fighters could cut their lifetime flight hours in half.

"The Boston Globe article has many misstatements," said Patricia
Frost, a spokeswoman for Boeing Naval Systems in St. Louis. "Boeing
and the U.S. Navy expect the Super Hornet and the EA-18G to meet or
exceed their 6,000-hour design life."

The Globe story reported that "a mechanism inside the wings of the F/
A-18 [E and F] Super Hornet ... is wearing out prematurely" - a problem
that, if uncorrected, "would drastically shorten the $50 million
aircraft's life span from 6,000 hours to 3,000 hours."

Boeing and the Navy acknowledged that problems have been found with
the aircraft, but said the situation described in the Globe story
dates from four years ago. Fixes already have been incorporated into
new aircraft and will be retrofitted into older planes, Boeing and the
Navy said.

"The U.S. Navy has identified a pylon fitting in the wing of the F/
A-18 E and F model Super Hornet where fatigue could potentially
shorten the wing's expected service life and is implementing a
corrective measure," said Chuck Wagner, a spokesman with Naval Air
Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md. "The fitting is part of the
lower wing spar and is used to reinforce the area where stores attach
to the wing. The potential problem was identified through an
engineering analysis in 2003 and subsequent testing in 2005, which are
part of our routine risk-mitigation processes for the aircraft's
development. The Navy and Boeing worked together, a fully-funded
project is underway, and today every aircraft coming off the
production line is being delivered with the solution that corrects for
the potential future fatigue. A retrofit solution on those aircraft
already in the fleet is planned for 2009 and will correct the
identified wing area prior to those aircraft reaching the flight-hour
threshold in which fatigue could potentially be experienced. The Navy
is confident it has selected the optimal proactive response which in
no way compromises the readiness or performance of the aircraft's
mission."

Asked whether the situation affected new EA-18G Growler electronic
countermeasures aircraft - which are all converted on the production
line from two-seat F models - Wagner said the problem did "not
influence them at all, because the solution is already incorporated
into aircraft coming off the production line. The solutions were
incorporated before the first G was delivered."

Fixes and modifications to aircraft in series production are not
unusual, Frost said.
"They're part of the normal life of an aircraft," she said. "If
something comes up you go out and fix it in a timely fashion before it
becomes a serious issue."