Posted on 04/29/2016 10:35:37 AM PDT by JhawkAtty
Software glitches continue to dog the nation’s newest fighter jet.
Five of six Air Force F-35 fighter jets were unable to take off during a recent exercise due to software bugs that continue to hamstring the world’s most sophisticated—and most expensive—warplane.
During a mock deployment at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, just one of the $100 million Lockheed Martin F-35s was able to boot its software successfully and get itself airborne during an exercise designed to test the readiness of the F-35, FlightGlobal reports. Nonetheless, the Air Force plans to declare its F-35s combat-ready later this year.
Details surrounding the failed exercise were disclosed earlier this week in written testimony presented to Congress by J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester.
“The Air Force attempted two alert launch procedures during the Mountain Home deployment, where multiple F-35A aircraft were preflighted and prepared for a rapid launch, but only one of the six aircraft was able to complete the alert launch sequence and successfully takeoff,” Gilmore wrote. “Problems during startup that required system or aircraft shutdowns and restarts – a symptom of immature systems and software–prevented the other alert launches from being completed.”
It’s not the only recent example of “immature systems and software” stalling progress on the $400 billion F-35 program. Aside from reports of glitches affecting both the onboard and ground-based software that drive the F-35—including bugs in the F-35’s radar software that requires periodic in-air radar reboots and maintenance software problems that could potentially ground the entire fleet—Gilmore detailed another recent example in which F-35s had to abort their test mission due to software stability issues.
In that incident, two of four F-35s loaded with an earlier version of the combat jet’s software were forced to abort a test of the aircraft’s radar jamming and threat detection capabilities due to software stability problems encountered at startup. The aircraft that were able to fly didn’t do so well in the evaluation either, Gilmore added.
Perhaps more troublesome for the F-35 program, overall, is the fact that software stability seems to be getting worse. U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs loaded with an earlier version of the software are reportedly the most stable, enjoying up to eight hours between “software stability events,” military lingo for glitches in one of the aircraft’s computer programs. The Marine Corps has already declared its F-35s combat ready, though Gilmore acknowledged that in real-world combat the F-35B would require assistance acquiring targets and avoiding threats.
The Air Force runs a newer version of the software known as “Block 3i” on its F-35s, and gets roughly half the time between significant software glitches—though F-35 program chief Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan recently told reporters that a new version of Block 3i software appears to have tripled in stability during tests, going up to 15 hours without a serious software issue.
Earlier this week Bogdan told reporters that despite the software issues, the Air Force still plans to declare its F-35s combat-ready sometime later this year. That could happen as soon as August, he said, though problems with the F-35s ground-based maintenance software will likely push that declaration back 60 days to October.
At Luke they are flying every day. The newly set up small footprints of future operational wings are going to take a while to get set up such as Mountain Home.
=====Congress to Air Force: You Can't Retire the A-10 Until the F-35 Proves It's BetterLegislators want proof the F-35 can take over the aging tank-killer's job
Congress threw down the gauntlet at the Air Force on Monday, introducing legislation to mandate keeping the A-10 Thunderbolt II—affectionately known as the Warthog—in service until the service can prove the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can take over its job................
=====Pentagon to test F-35 against A-10 in 'common sense' war scenario showdown
WASHINGTON – A showdown might soon settle one of the U.S. military’s biggest air power controversies. The high-tech and expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will face off in upcoming testing with the Air Force’s aging close-air-support stalwart, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the director of the Defense Department operational test and evaluation office said Tuesday.
The battlefield comparison “makes common sense” and will pit the two airframes against each other in a variety of war scenarios this year, Michael Gilmore said during Senate testimony. ...........
This is why we need President Trump. Obola must be overjoyed by this cluster f**k since it burns valuable defense funding while delivering no useable weapons.
You can blame Obama for a lot things, but not the F-35. The JSF program dates back to the early 1990s and all of the key engineering and economic decisions were Clinton and early George W. Bush administration.
I’m still unable to understand why the Navy would even entertain deploying a single-engine aircraft. I guess the Flag ranks are all dancers and prancers now. Go along get along get a good retirement job. Who gives a shyt what happens to the pilots?
Just look at the loss rate through engine failure of the F-16 vs the F-15, F-18, etc etc. I hope there’s room for a good life raft on the F-35.
The correct answer is yes,.. to both ,
based on what I have seen from this administration over the last 8 years .
I bet General LeMay could get this straighten out.
Are these planes running Windows or something?
I would hope the test involves the planes sitting on “Hot Pad” waiting for the call and then launching. That would test time over target, then get on with effectiveness of support.
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Sorry, but that's the funniest thing I've heard all day. Thanks!
Can anyone verify the article I read that said the Pentagon is going to run a ‘shoot-off” between the F35 and the old A-10 Warthog to see which is better for air support.
I submit that every Warthog will be able to take off—and many showed the could land when shot full of holes.
“Pentagon Wars” may be a good story, but that is not exactly what happened.
In 1968 we had the M113, an aluminum armored, amphibious, personnel carrier or ‘battle taxi’, and the M114 reconnaissance vehicle or ‘scout.’ The M113 had already proved inadequate as a fighting vehicle and was being extensively field-modified in VietNam with a turret and extra Machine guns w/ armored shields (the ACAV). The Soviets had the BMP with a turret w/ a 75mm gun and an externally mounted anti-tank missile, and firing ports for the infantry inside. So, Western armies began experimenting with AIFV’s (armored infantry fighting vehicles).
The US modified M113s into the AIFV, with a 25mm gun in a turret, firing ports, steel applique armor, yet retaining amphibious capability. The Australians added a 73mm gun turret to their M113s. The West Germans developed the Marder. The British developed the Scorpion family of reconnaissance and specialized vehicles. The AIFV stretched the M113’s design to its limits; the Bradley (M2 and M3) was conceived to incorporate the AIFV’s modifications into a new improved design.
...and to think a lot of people made/are-making a lot of money from the taxpayers on this white elephant. Something remain very, very wrong with the procurement process.
But wait — having a single plane for all branches of the services and our allies will *save money*, just like that reusable Space Shuttle *saved money*. /s
That sign was in our office way back in 1984.
And were you in the brick & mortar building business or the software building business? :)
I don’t recall where I first saw it. Probably in the early 90’s when I first started developing software.
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