New F-35 Logistics System to Replace ALIS, JPO May Go to Cut Costs

F-35 Logistics System to Be Reinvented and Renamed, Official Says (excerpt)

(Source: Reuters; published Jan. 15, 2020)

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON --- The computer-based logistics system of the F-35 stealth fighter jet made by Lockheed Martin, which has been plagued by delays, will be replaced by another network made by the same company, a Pentagon official said on Tuesday.

The Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) was designed to underpin the F-35 fleet’s daily operations, ranging from mission planning and flight scheduling to repairs and scheduled maintenance, as well as the tracking and ordering of parts.

Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s chief weapon’s buyer, said ALIS would be replaced with Lockheed Martin’s Operational Data Integrated Network (ODIN), which will be streamlined for efficiency “with the voice of the maintainer and the pilots at the forefront of the requirements list.”

Lord told Reuters outside a closed-door briefing to U.S. Congress that Lockheed Martin, the F-35’s prime contractor, would work on ODIN under the current ALIS funding profile without additional cost to the taxpayer. (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on the Reuters website.

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Scrapping Pentagon F-35 Office an Option to Cut Upkeep Costs (excerpt)

(Source: Bloomberg News; published Jan. 14, 2020)

By Anthony Capaccio

House lawmakers trying to reduce the projected $1.1 trillion cost of maintaining the F-35 over 60 years are considering options including eliminating the Pentagon’s central office in charge of the fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

Dispersing responsibility to the three military services that are getting variations of the plane is among possibilities drafted by the Defense Department that will be reviewed Tuesday in a closed-door briefing of two House Armed Services subcommittees.

The proposal to “potentially dissolve and disaggregate the F-35 Joint Program Office” is aimed at gains in “efficiency and effectiveness,” Monica Matoush, a spokeswoman for the Armed Services Committee, said in an email.

Other possibilities include prodding Lockheed Martin to give up data rights on some spare parts -- so that other suppliers could be sought -- and pushing for improvements in the aircraft’s flawed diagnostic system.

Matoush said the briefing, which will include Under Secretary of Defense Ellen Lord and representatives of the Government Accountability Office, will also “evaluate the merits and disadvantages” of an unsolicited proposal by Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed to enter into a long-term, “performance-based” logistics contract for F-35 sustainment. (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on the Bloomberg website.

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