America Class and the F-35B

The F-35B is, or will be, inextricably linked to the America class LHA.  The F-35B was built to operate from the America and the America was built, specifically, to operate the F-35B since the ship has no well deck.  My suspicion is that the America was built to be a mini-aircraft carrier rather than an amphibious ship.  America can operate 20 F-35Bs when configured as a mini-carrier.

America was informally commissioned in Jul 2014 and proceeded to sail to San Diego where the ship was formally commissioned in Oct 2014.  In the ensuing 17 months, the ship has spent the majority of the time in dock and has just now returned to duty after spending the previous ten months undergoing upgrades to accommodate the F-35B.  Upgrades included strengthening the flight deck, adding soundproofing, rearranging and restructuring compartments immediately under the flight deck due to noise issues, hangar modifications, and treating the flight deck with a specially designed thermal coating to accommodate the massive heat load of the F-35B.  As a USNI News article puts it,

“The aviation-centric big deck was commissioned in late 2014 but required additional work to take the day-to-day strain of operating the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) strike fighters that will operate from the ship.” (1)

Apparently, no one realized the impact the F-35B would have on the ship that was designed to operate it.  That’s some pretty major design flaws in a ship that was specifically designed to operate the F-35B! 

This also illustrates the on-going impact of the F-35B on the entire military.  The cost of the F-35B program extends well beyond the “mere” cost of the aircraft’s construction.  I have seen no figures beyond an initial $32M contract for normal post-shakedown work but what do you think a 10 month upgrade/rebuild effort on the America cost?  It’s got to be hundreds of millions of dollars.  Further, the next ship in the class, LHA-7, will also require extensive refits after completion which is more money to make the F-35 program work.  The Navy’s website makes it clear that the vast majority of the 10 month upgrade period is due strictly to the F-35.

“America is more than halfway through its post-shakedown availability period (PSA) in which the ship's crew and contractors make improvements to the ship's design. About 20 percent of the work being performed is the normal maintenance associated with PSAs for newly constructed ships. The rest of the maintenance consists of the upgrades designed to support the JSF.” (2)

Beyond the cost, the work required the ship to be idled for 10 months.  Thanks to the F-35B, the America has been in dock for 10 of its 17 months in commission.  The ship’s two year anniversary is coming up and it has yet to deploy.

(1)USNI News, “USS America Back to Sea After Completing 10-Months of Deck Strengthening for F-35s”, Sam LaGrone, March 22, 2016,

http://news.usni.org/2016/03/22/uss-america-back-to-sea-after-completing-10-months-of-deck-strengthening-for-f-35s

(2)navy.mil, “America Modifications Increase Air Capabilities”, USS America (LHA 6) Public Affairs, 8-Dec-2015,

​http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/lha6/Pages/America-Modifications-Increase-Air-Capabilities.aspx#.VvKU_tIrJxA

Bagikan Artikel ini