The F-35 Lightning II program, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, is a joint, multinational acquisition intended to develop and field a family of next-generation strike fighter aircraft for the United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, and eight international partners. According to DOD, there will be three variants of the F-35: 1. The conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, designated the F-35A, will be a multirole, stealthy strike aircraft replacement for the Air Force’s F-16 Falcon and the A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, and will complement the F-22A Raptor (see fig. 1). 2. The short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant, designated the F-35B, will be a multirole, stealthy strike fighter that will replace the Marine Corps’ F/A-18C/D Hornet and AV-8B Harrier aircraft. 3. The carrier-suitable variant (CV), designated the F-35C, will provide the Navy a multirole, stealthy strike aircraft to complement the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. The Marine Corps will also field a limited number of F-35C CVs. Lockheed Martin is the primary aircraft contractor and Pratt & Whitney is the engine contractor. Although the acquisition costs of the F-35 program are about $400 billion, the most significant cost driver for the program is sustainment. The F-35 O&S costs are those incurred from the initial system deployment through the end of system operations, and include all costs of operating, maintaining, and supporting the fielded system. The F-35 program office develops an annual estimate for the O&S costs of maintaining and supporting the F-35 for 56 years. In its most recent estimate (2014), the program office estimates that it will cost about $891 billion to sustain the entire F-35 fleet over its life cycle. The Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) is a system of systems that serves as the primary logistics tool to support F-35 operations, mission planning, and sustainment. ALIS helps maintainers manage tasks including aircraft health and diagnostics, supply-chain management, and necessary maintenance events. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for ALIS and is responsible for developing and managing the capabilities of the system, as well as developing training materials for ALIS users. According to DOD, ALIS will be co-located with F-35 aircraft both at U.S. military installations and in theater to support missions and assist with maintenance and resource allocation. ALIS consists of the overarching system, the applications housed within it, and the some of the network infrastructure required to provide global integrated and autonomic support of the F-35 fleet. It comprises both hardware and software. The hardware consists of three main components: The Autonomic Logistics Operating Unit (ALOU): The ALOU is the computer server that all F-35 data ultimately are sent through and it supports communications with and between the government and the contractor’s systems. The Central Point of Entry (CPE): The CPE is configured to provide software and data distribution for the entire F-35 fleet in the United States, enables interoperability with national (government) systems at the country level, and enables ALIS data connectivity between bases. Each international partner operating F-35 aircraft is expected to have its own CPE at other locations. The Standard Operating Unit (SOU): SOUs provide all ALIS capabilities to support flying, maintenance, and training. They also provide access to applications to operate and sustain the aircraft. As of February 2016, there was one operational ALOU and CPE within the United States. Each F-35 operating and testing site in the United States has a varying number of SOUs depending on the site’s number of aircraft and squadrons, and there are two versions: SOU V1 and SOU V2. The main difference between the two SOUs is that SOU V2 was designed to better meet participants’ deployability requirements. While SOU V1 was housed in two 1,600-pound server racks, SOU V2 was designed to have its components fit into transit cases that are two-man portable, each weighing approximately 200 pounds. DOD is planning to have at least one SOU accompany each F-35 squadron. The services organize their squadrons differently but squadron sizes generally range from 10 to 24 aircraft. The F-35 Operational Requirements Document, which originated in March 2000 and contains the performance and operational parameters for the concept of the F-35, calls for an incremental development of F-35 capabilities by aircraft software blocks and phased software releases during the system development and demonstration phase. This is concurrent to the production and fielding of small volumes of aircraft during low-rate initial production. ALIS’s software development is anticipated to be completed after two more of its versions are released, the first of which will support the Air Force declaring initial operational capability in summer 2016. The current fielding status of ALIS is illustrated in figure 2, which also includes the dates for when the next software upgrade—ALIS Version 2.0.2—is to be introduced at each F-35 site. ALIS 3.0, which is the version expected to meet the requirements defined in the Operational Requirements Document, is expected to have completed its development and commence testing by October 2017 in line with the end of system development and demonstration. The release is to be fielded under the low-rate initial production contract in early 2018 and is intended to be fully functional by 2019. DOD intends for ALIS software capabilities to include: operational planning, maintenance, supply-chain management, customer-support services, training, tech data, system security, and external interfaces. As stated earlier, ALIS is a system of systems—it comprises multiple software applications that perform specific functions for F-35 maintainers, pilots, supply personnel, and data analysts. These separate applications must be integrated within the system, as well as have interconnectivity with preexisting “legacy” information systems that are used by the services for other weapons system platforms. ALIS applications are being developed by the contractor incrementally, with some applications currently more functional than others. The F-35 program’s original requirements state that it must include a fully functional and effective logistics system to ensure operational readiness and availability. As of December, average aircraft availability for the year—the percentage of F- 35 aircraft capable of performing missions at a given time—was around 50 percent, whereas DOD had expected it to be 60 percent. Figure 3 includes major applications within ALIS, their intended purpose, and the F-35 program office’s assessment of the functionality status of each application. As figure 3 shows, according to DOD, most of the applications within ALIS currently have functionality issues. ALIS was originally scheduled to be completed for testing in 2010, as shown in figure 4. However, that same year the program triggered a Nunn-McCurdy breach, when unit cost growth exceeded critical thresholds. As a result, the F-35 program (including ALIS) was rebaselined in 2012, which established a new acquisition baseline, and Milestone B was recertified after the breach. The F-35 program is currently approaching the end of the system development and demonstration phase, during which ALIS has been developed, built, and tested to verify that operational requirements are being met. Concurrently, the program is in low-rate initial production. In addition, DOD and the services are in the process of declaring major milestones. Specifically, the Marine Corps declared initial operational capability in July 2015. The Air Force is scheduled to declare initial operational capability in August 2016, and the Navy is scheduled to do so in 2018. By 2018, after all services have declared their initial operational capability, the program, to include ALIS, is expected to reach full warfighting capability. The F-35 program plans to begin full-rate production in 2019, and according to DOD officials, any additional modifications or upgrades with new capabilities to ALIS will be part of the program’s follow-on modernization. DOD generally requires programs to have established sustainment and support systems, like ALIS, for the F- 35 by full-rate production. According to the F-35 Operational Requirements Document, by full-rate production, all variants must be able to deploy rapidly, sustain high mission reliability, and sustain a high sortie-generation rate. DOD is aware of risks that could affect ALIS but does not have a plan to prioritize and address them in a holistic manner to ensure that ALIS is fully functional as the F-35 program approaches key milestones— including Air Force and Navy initial operational capability declarations in 2016 and 2018, respectively, and the start of the program’s full-rate production in 2019. During our focus groups, ALIS users identified some beneficial aspects of the system. However, they also identified a variety of concerns, which may result in operational and schedule risks. The F-35 program office is aware of these issues, but is currently addressing them on a case-by-case basis. ALIS users (pilots, maintainers, administrators, and trainers) in the focus groups we held at five F-35 operational or testing sites identified some benefits of the system. For example, maintainers and administrators at three sites stated that they have seen ALIS’s capabilities improve over time as the system’s software has been upgraded. In addition, pilots and maintainers at three sites expressed confidence in ALIS’s future capabilities as the system continues to improve.