SYSTEM MANAGEMENT PLAN AND MATRIX FOR THE F–35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT PROGRAM.

SEC. 122. SYSTEM MANAGEMENT PLAN AND MATRIX FOR THE F–35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT PROGRAM.(a) System Management Plan.—(1) Plan required.—The Secretary of Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, shall establish a management plan for the F–35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft program under which decisions to commit to specified levels of production are linked to progress in meeting specified program milestones, including design, manufacturing, testing, and fielding milestones for critical system maturity elements.(2) Nature of plan.—The plan under paragraph (1) shall align technical progress milestones with acquisition milestones in a system maturity matrix. The matrix shall provide criteria and conditions for comparing expected levels of demonstrated system maturity with annual production commitments, starting with the fiscal year 2012 production program, and continuing over the remaining life of the system development and demonstration program. The matrix and criteria shall include elements such as the following:(A) Manufacturing maturity, including on-time deliveries, manufacturing process control, quality rates, and labor efficiency rates.(B) Engineering maturity, including metrics for the number of new design actions and number of design changes in a given period.124 STAT. 4158(C) Performance and testing progress, including test points, hours and flights accomplished, capabilities demonstrated, key performance parameters, and attributes demonstrated.(D) Mission effectiveness and system reliability, including operational effectiveness and reliability growth.(E) Training, fielding, and deployment status.(b) Reports to Congress.—(1) Initial report.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report setting forth the plan required by subsection (a). The report shall include—(A) the proposed system maturity matrix described in subsection (a)(2), including a description, for each element specified in the matrix under subsection (a)(2), of the criteria and milestones to be used in evaluating actual program performance against planned performance for each annual production commitment; and(B) a description of the actions to be taken to implement the plan.(2) Updates.—The Secretary shall submit to Congress, at or about the same time as the submittal to Congress of the budget of the President for any fiscal year after fiscal year 2012 (as submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code), any modification to the plan required by subsection (a) that was made during the preceding calendar year, including a rationale for each such modification.(c) Report on Capabilities of Marine Corps Variant of F–35 Fighter Aircraft at Initial Operating Capability.—(1) In general.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the expected capabilities of the F–35B Joint Strike Fighter aircraft at the time when the Marine Corps plans to declare Initial Operating Capability for the F–35B Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. The report shall be prepared in consultation with the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.(2) Elements.—The report under paragraph (1) shall including a description of the following with respect to the F–35B Joint Strike Fighter aircraft:(A) Performance of the aircraft and its subsystems, compared to key performance parameters.(B) Expected capability to perform Marine Corps missions.(C) Required maintenance and logistics standards, including mission capability rates.(D) Expected levels of crew training and performance.(E) Product improvements that are planned before the Initial Operating Capability of the aircraft to be made after the Initial Operating Capability of the aircraft, as planned in March 2010.