DOT&E's activities this year continued to support test planning outlined in the August 1997 F-22 TEMP. Toward this end, DOT&E participated in integrated product team (IPT) meetings of the Test Planning Working Group, System Effectiveness Working Group (SEWG), Threat Working Group, and the Weapons IPT. The SEWG is the IPT responsible for coordinating many of the effectiveness evaluation issues including Air Combat Simulator (ACS) requirements, verification and validation of models and simulations, scenarios and threats coordination, and integration of AFOTEC's IOT&E plans.

The first flight of the EMD flight test program occurred on September 7, 1997 at Lockheed Martin, Marietta, GA. The first test aircraft resumed test flights at Edwards AFB on May 17, 1998 after being transported from Marietta, GA. The second flight test aircraft's first flight was on June 29, 1998, and its ferry to Edwards AFB occurred on August 26,1998. Both aircraft are continuing to expand the allowable flight envelope and have accumulated 77.2 hours as of the end of September 1998. The third flight test aircraft's first flight is planned for November 1999, and the fourth flight test aircraft (the first capable of avionics testing) is scheduled to fly in February 2000.

Development of the ACS, consisting of two domes and ten manned interactive cockpit stations at Marietta, GA, continued in the system planning stage. A $5.7 million budget reduction in March 1998 forced substitution of a Commercial-off-the-Shelf computer to host the F-22 mission software instead of the original plan to host the mission software portion of the aircraft's operational flight program on the Central Integrated Processor flight hardware in the ACS. Replanning to accommodate this change is underway with IOC to support IOT&E scheduled for October 2001. DOT&E reviewed the ACS plans to ensure that test adequacy is not compromised by the pressure of cost growth.

A Flying Test Bed (FTB), currently consisting of an APG-77 radar in an F-22 forebody spliced onto the nose of a Boeing 757 test aircraft, completed the first phase of testing this year at the Northrop Grumman plant at Baltimore Washington International Airport. The APG-77 performance in the FTB confirmed the robustness and adequacy of the design.

The F-22 flight test program is progressing about as expected and flight and engine performance is matching simulation. While flight-testing is progressing satisfactorily, the challenges and risks for F-22 performance are in the avionics area. No operational tests have been conducted, but IOT&E planning reflects the TEMP's integrated test approach of evaluating the F-22's operational effectiveness and suitability through a combination of open air testing, ACS, Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL), and constructive models. Credible simulation tools are mandatory to supplement the evaluation data from the 240 test sorties allocated for Dedicated IOT&E and some of the Combined DT/OT sorties. Critical HITL simulation facilities, in addition to the ACS, include the Avionics Integration Laboratory in Seattle, WA; the Electronic Combat Integrated Test and the Integrated Hardware-in-the-Loop Avionics Test facilities at Edwards AFB; and the Flying Test Bed. Sustaining funding for these facilities is essential for the overall F-22 test program. Planning for selection and verification, validation, and accreditation of constructive models to assist in test planning and providing evaluation data beyond that which can be supplied by ACS or open air tests is in process. This planning will follow the Simulation, Test and Evaluation Process guidelines approved last year by DOT&E and DTSE&E.

AFOTEC has initiated a five-year OA, with periodic reports, based on a structured strategy-to-task assessment of all F-22 mission tasks. The OA will utilize data from DT&E and the outputs of such constructive models and simulation as BRAWLER (USAF primary air-to-air engagement model), Extended Air Defense Simulation, Enhanced Surface-to-Air Missile Simulation, Logistics Composite Model, and the Aircraft Readiness Model. Primary objectives of the OA include:

• Identifying and assessing potential major impacts affecting operational effectiveness and suitability.

• Identifying any programmatic voids or trends that would adversely impact the capability of the F-22 to meet operational requirements.

• Assessing program documentation and testability of user requirements.

• Assessing F-22 program capability to support OT&E.

A sortie generation demonstration, conducted with four aircraft operating at a high tempo for five days, just prior to the beginning of Dedicated IOT&E, is defined in the TEMP. This demonstration will provide credible reliability and maintainability inputs to the models used during the evaluation of the F-22's operational suitability.

The first AFOTEC OA report will be submitted to support the December 1999 DAB for the purpose of approving LRIP for Lot 1.