F35 in India

[baldy1926]

Ive not seen thread on this.
There is a f35 sat in India having not being able to land back on the carrier due to hydraulic issues.
Apparently it's sat in the open due to the mod refusing to allow it to be put in a hanger or under a temp cover.
As its monsoon season it's been too wet to work on.
I'm struggling to think of a reason why they wouldn't put it inside.
When we had the first batch delivered my friend had a senior position at Marham and he told me a couple times how the f35 didn't particularly like being in heavy rain

[Earthdweller]

Probably because they don't want it out of sight where it can be "examined"'

I did. Read elsewhere the pilot was sitting on the runway in front of it to stop anyone getting anywhere near it but I'm not sure of the veracity of that report

[IanH755]

Earthdweller said:

Probably because they don't want it out of sight where it can be "examined"'

Bingo!

I'd suggest that it's likely it'll be stuck there for a while longer too as the ship will have to keep on moving on to its own schedule. Which means that it seems reasonable to assume that they probably can't really afford to "lose" a number of the Sqn maint crew from an already small number of Sqn engineers onboard to continue trying to fix it whilst the ship sails away, so its more probable that people from the UK would have to fly out to fix it instead, as a guess.

[Countdown]

I thought this was about India wanting to buy an F-35, especially after the IAF Rafales got a bit of a slap.

[baldy1926]

IanH755 said:

Bingo!

I'd suggest that it's likely it'll be stuck there for a while longer too as the ship will have to keep on moving on to its own schedule. Which means that it seems reasonable to assume that they probably can't really afford to "lose" a number of the Sqn maint crew from an already small number of Sqn engineers onboard to continue trying to fix it whilst the ship sails away, so its more probable that people from the UK would have to fly out to fix it instead, as a guess.

Apparently the engineers are there but it's too wet ro work on it

[hidetheelephants]

Countdown said:

I thought this was about India wanting to buy an F-35, especially after the IAF Rafales got a bit of a slap.

No danger of that happening, Turkey's F35 order was stopped when they bought russian SAM systems; India also operates russian SAM systems.

[aeropilot]

baldy1926 said:

IanH755 said:

Bingo!

I'd suggest that it's likely it'll be stuck there for a while longer too as the ship will have to keep on moving on to its own schedule. Which means that it seems reasonable to assume that they probably can't really afford to "lose" a number of the Sqn maint crew from an already small number of Sqn engineers onboard to continue trying to fix it whilst the ship sails away, so its more probable that people from the UK would have to fly out to fix it instead, as a guess.

Apparently the engineers are there but it's too wet ro work on it

They can't fix it.
Supposed to be a tech team flying out from the UK now to help.
If they can't fix it, they have to remove the wings and tail, and load it into the back of a C-17 to bring it back to Marham.

[IanH755]

aeropilot said:

baldy1926 said:

IanH755 said:

Bingo!

I'd suggest that it's likely it'll be stuck there for a while longer too as the ship will have to keep on moving on to its own schedule. Which means that it seems reasonable to assume that they probably can't really afford to "lose" a number of the Sqn maint crew from an already small number of Sqn engineers onboard to continue trying to fix it whilst the ship sails away, so its more probable that people from the UK would have to fly out to fix it instead, as a guess.

Apparently the engineers are there but it's too wet ro work on it

They can't fix it.
Supposed to be a tech team flying out from the UK now to help.
If they can't fix it, they have to remove the wings and tail, and load it into the back of a C-17 to bring it back to Marham.

As a guess I'd say that the "wing & tail" option, which I believe has never been carried out by the UK before, is very much a last gasp" solution, and that the MOD would likely rather keep UK engineers out at the airport for a surprisingly long time swapping as many bits over as the supply chain can cope with, just to avoid the last gasp solution, which would likely run a very large risk of further problems.

[borcy]

It'd be a pretty big job to remove the wings. You'll need quite a few bits of kit that won't be just laying about. Plus, as above, no one in the uk will have done this job before. The spares for f35 will be pretty thin on the ground to start with, what with the carrier deployment and budget issues.
They'll get it back, it's a headache they could do without. Good job it was near a airport or they might be picking up another one that went for a swim.

[aeropilot]

borcy said:

It'd be a pretty big job to remove the wings. You'll need quite a few bits of kit that won't be just laying about. Plus, as above, no one in the uk will have done this job before. The spares for f35 will be pretty thin on the ground to start with, what with the carrier deployment and budget issues.

This is another problem with the MOD not wanting to fly the damn things on a regular basis to save money and relying on sim training instead.
The problem with that is if you don't fly them enough, especially with an aircraft that is showing low levels of serviceability as it is, then you are not ironing out the serviceability bugs quick enough, and so heaven help us if we actually need to use the bloody things for real one day.....

[Simpo Two]

Polish it up and flog it to India 'sold as seen'.

They could at least have thrown a tarp over it, rather than leave it in the rain then say it's too wet to fix...

[borcy]

I see what you're saying but i don't think that's the issue. There are bigger issues with low serviceability that could be resolved in a different way to flying it more.
Low rates of flying aren't wholly caused by trying to reduce costs.

[aeropilot]

Reports that a 30 strong team from UK (and the carrier) have now arrived in India (via Singapore) to try and fix the bloody thing.

[borcy]

You only need to get worried when 71 sqn get sent out

Not to play the moderator, but i don't think a running update from marham opsies etc is the best idea

[aeropilot]

borcy said:

Not to play the moderator, but i don't think a running update from marham opsies etc is the best idea

Err.......nothing from Marham.

https://x.com/shivaroor/status/1936446134043443337...

[borcy]

aeropilot said:

borcy said:

Not to play the moderator, but i don't think a running update from marham opsies etc is the best idea

Err.......nothing from Marham.

https://x.com/shivaroor/status/1936446134043443337...

Fair enough. I don't follow anyone on x.

If that's correct, thats a big rects/hit team.

Edited by borcy on Sunday 22 June 10:04

[aeropilot]

borcy said:

I don't follow anyone on x.

Nor do I.

[IanH755]

borcy said:

If that's correct, thats a big rects/hit team.

Yeap, if thats correct, I'd say that it's two shifts at work and more than just the mechanical trade arrived, as they'll need other trades to cover any emerging issues plus other people to service it once it's fixed, mission planning, maybe even additional aircraft guards etc, who knows what else.

So whilst 30, if correct, may seem like a lot, in reality it's just a few actually fixing, and a lot in support. Plus it makes sense that, rather than delaying even more "if" they were needed and had to be sent as extras from the UK, they're already there just in case.

[borcy]

IanH755 said:

borcy said:

If that's correct, thats a big rects/hit team.

Yeap, if thats correct, I'd say that it's two shifts at work and more than just the mechanical trade arrived, as they'll need other trades to cover any emerging issues plus other people to service it once it's fixed, mission planning, maybe even additional aircraft guards etc, who knows what else.

So whilst 30, if correct, may seem like a lot, in reality it's just a few actually fixing, and a lot in support. Plus it makes sense that, rather than delaying even more "if" they were needed and had to be sent as extras from the UK, they're already there just in case.

I know, I've picked a fair few aircraft up stranded in various places never seen line going if there's load from trade or any opsies involved.

I can't say I've ever seen so many. But perhaps an f35 peculiarity or perhaps the info online is wrong.

[aeropilot]

IanH755 said:

borcy said:

If that's correct, thats a big rects/hit team.

Yeap, if thats correct, I'd say that it's two shifts at work and more than just the mechanical trade arrived, as they'll need other trades to cover any emerging issues plus other people to service it once it's fixed, mission planning, maybe even additional aircraft guards etc, who knows what else.

So whilst 30, if correct, may seem like a lot, in reality it's just a few actually fixing, and a lot in support. Plus it makes sense that, rather than delaying even more "if" they were needed and had to be sent as extras from the UK, they're already there just in case.

I guess they've thrown the kitchen sink at the problem in order to get it fixed (or taken apart to get into a C-17) in one final go regardless.