Posted on 11/28/2009 1:54:05 AM PST by myknowledge
Rather than risk having a hostile (or competing) nation obtaining the software that controls the inner workings of the new F-35 fighter-bomber, the U.S. has decided that no foreign country will have access to the source code (the plain text version of the code that is written by programmers, and then turned into the 0s and 1s by a compiler program so that it can operate inside the dozens of microprocessors inside the aircraft). Britain and Israel had threatened to back out of buying the F-35 if they could not get access to the source code (to make their own modifications.) Both nations are expected to buy the F-35 anyway. In return, the U.S. Air Force will set up a fast-response software modification service for everyone using the F-35. Thus foreign users can get custom versions of the software, as least as fast, and at the same price, they would pay if they had the source code and used their own programmers. Israel has been offered the integration, by U.S. engineers, of Israeli software, to the basic American made software package.
The F-35 source code comprises about 8 million lines of code (a file about two gigabytes in size, that could easily fit on a thumb drive). Most modern PC operating systems have source code ten or more times as large. The contractors who created the F-35 software, did not let the source code anywhere near the Internet, to insure that Chinese hackers did not grab it.
The 27 ton F-35 is armed with an internal 25mm cannon and four internal air-to-air missiles (or two missiles and two smart bombs). Plus four external smart bombs and two missiles. All sensors are carried internally, and max weapon load is 6.8 tons. The aircraft is very stealthy when just carrying internal weapons.
Development costs for the new U.S. F-35 fighter-bomber has grown by a third, to $60 billion, over the last few years. That means the average development cost of the estimated 5,000 F-35s to be built, will be about $12 million each. The additional development costs are accompanied by an additional delays before the aircraft enters service. Production costs will average about $84 million. With a share of development costs, that makes the per aircraft cost $96 million.
Like the F-22 fighter, the F-35 is stealthy, and is stuffed with lots of new technology. Most (about 60 percent) of the F-35s will be used by foreign nations. The rising cost of the F-35 brings with it reluctance to buy as many aircraft currently planned. The success of smart bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan has also made it clear that fewer aircraft will be needed in the future. In any event, it's likely that F-35s are end up costing more than $100 million each.
And the stolen F-35 tech could be used to develop the PAK FA and J-XX to a level where it can reach technological parity with the U.S. 5th Gen fighters.
The F-35 also lacks supercruise if I'm not mistaken. It was a huge mistake (typical of 0) to shut down F-22 production before building more as well as exporting some to our top allies. For one thing the F-22 is operational now, whereas the F-35 won't become so until at least 2013.
Our deterrence factor has dropped quite a bit since 0 took office.
It just takes time and effort to reverse engineer without source code, so I don’t see the big deal.
We (Britain) ought to back out and buy French Rafales instead, manufactured under licence in Britain. We should not be beholden to another country to support, modify and maintain our own weapons systems, no matter how close an ally they are now...
The Pratt & Whitney F135 and GE/Rolls-Royce F136 turbofans have more thrust than the F119 but indeed lack supercruise, and supercruise gives the Raptor a speed advantage without using the gas-guzzling afterburner and compromising its IR stealth in the process.
...whereas the F-35 won't become so until at least 2013.
The 33d Fighter Wing (58th & 60th FS) @ Eglin AFB, FL, will be the first training unit to operate the F-35, that is, by 2011.
By 2017, the 20th Fighter Wing (55th, 77th and 79th FS) @ Shaw AFB, NC, will be the first combat unit to operate the F-35. Other potential units would be the 388th FW (4th, 34th and 421st FS) @ Hill AFB, UT; 366th FW (390th FS) @ Mountain Home AFB, ID.
I meant the avionics.
Amen to that. The US are trustworthy enough but a sovereign nation has to take account of their own needs.
Even just the avionics source can be reverse engineered from the object code “110101” stuff. Just lots of time and effort.
Hardly a reason not to buy, unless someone is offering something else similar for the same money with sources.
What am I not getting?
You forgot one word:
"We should not be beholden to another country to develop, support, modify and maintain our own weapons systems, no matter how close an ally they are now.
Feel free to start your own weapons systems development projects whenever you please.
Never fear, Zero the Magnificent will give it to them the next time he bows down.
The same could be said for the America, my firend. An awful lot of American “Triumphs” rested on British science and accomplishment (Or German, come to that)....while Wernher von Braun is the obvious example, let’s not forget that Britain suppleid the starting info that enable Chck Y to break the speed barrier and later delayed their own attempt to allow the US a victory (since it was seen as being useful for the cold war).
US nick other folks tech as cheerfully as everyone else. It’s what nation states do...
with US secret coding,
the plane can be turned off
by Obama
Ideally, we should do that as well (have to admire the French for being beholden to no-one in this regard), but its too late at this point to go down that road if we want planes for our new aircraft carriers by the time they are commissioned in the coming decade.
What matters now is having operational sovereignty over aircraft in our possession. Then we should start drawing plans to replace them with our own locally designed aircraft...
By all means, please purchase the Rafale. We Americans should not be beholden to another country to purchase our weapons systems and surrender all our technology, no matter how close an ally they are now...
“Amen to that. The US are trustworthy enough but a sovereign nation has to take account of their own needs.”
The Americans are not 100% reliable. They screwed us over during the Suez Crisis and they thought long and hard about doing the same over the Falklands before deciding, on balance, they would be better to support us and not Argentina.
Can’t really blame them for looking after their perceived national interests, but it illustrates the point that we should rely on ourselves and not others for something as fundamental as national defence...
I am sincerely flattered that you consider the US trustworthy enough but I agree with your concept that a sovereign nation has to take account of their own needs. Please purchase your aircraft from France.
Considering we are a tier-1 partner (the only one) and are designing and building parts of the plane, you would think that we have a right to have access to the source code, just like all 4 partners on the EF project did, but the Pentagon thinks otherwise, and we should take lessons from this and apply them in future...
Does this mean we used to give foreign countries our source codes?
“Even just the avionics source can be reverse engineered from the object code “110101” stuff. Just lots of time and effort.”
The Russians tried this lots of times back in the Cold War.
They found out it’s easier said than done.
What am I not getting?
What are you not getting?
Exactly how much "time and effort" it takes to do it.
It takes a horrendous amount of time and effort to "forward engineer" it ... reverse-engineering takes orders of magnitude more effort.
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