Pentagon: F-35 Software Remains Seriously Flawed

defenseone.com ^ | January 30, 2014 | Bob Brewin

[ilovesarah2012]

The $397 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program suffers from such severe software problems that aircraft could not conduct operational missions today, the Pentagon’s chief tester said in his annual report to Congress, which was released to the public yesterday.

Contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. develops the F-35 software in three blocks. The first is designed to support training, followed by a second block for initial combat operations. The final block for full combat operations is expected in 2019, 23 years after the Pentagon signed the contract to acquire just under 2,500 of the aircraft for all four services.

The report from J. Michael Gilmore, director of operational test and evaluation for Defense, said Lockheed Martin delivered an incremental version of the Block 2 F-35 software for installation on the Air Force F-35A variant and the Marine Corps F-35B vertical takeoff aircraft in early 2013, but that software was far from complete.

[ilovesarah2012]

Potential Chinese Espionage? Lockheed Martin (LMT) Uses Chinese Manufacturers For U.S.-Built Stealth F-35 Jet

http://www.ibtimes.com/potential-chinese-espionage-lockheed-martin-lmt-uses-chinese-manufacturers-us-built-stealth-f-35-jet

None of this sounds good.

[miliantnutcase]

What else new. US tax payer takes in the rear... We should get some of our money back on this BS program.

[SeeSharp]

Nothing that ugly can be a fighter. Except the Mig-15.

[ilovesarah2012]

F-35: Looking at most expensive weapons system ever

In the rush to stay ahead of China and Russia, the Pentagon started buying the F-35 before testing it, breaking the traditional “fly-before-you-buy” rule of weapons acquisition. Now taxpayers are paying the price for mistakes that weren’t caught before production began. A Pentagon document obtained by 60 Minutes catalogues the “flawed . . . assumptions” and “unrealistic . . . estimates” that led to a $163 billion cost overrun on what was already the highest priced weapons system in history. David Martin reports on the problem-plagued program and the battles the Pentagon has fought with the plane’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, to bring the costs under control. He also gets a firsthand look at some of the plane’s game-changing technology for a story to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

“We started buying airplanes a good year before we started test flights,” says Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer. “I referred to that decision as acquisition malpractice.” Kendall says the program is now under control, but says,“We need to face the truth in this business. We need to understand what works and what doesn’t.”

A lot didn’t work for the state-of-the-art jet, which the Air Force, Navy and Marines are all counting on to replace virtually all of their current jet fighters. Mistakes included simple things like running lights that didn’t conform to FAA standards and tires that wore out much faster than expected. “Tires aren’t rocket science,” says Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, the man in charge of the F-35 program. “We ought to be able to figure out how to do tires on a multibillion dollar, highly-advanced fighter.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/f-35-looking-at-most-expensive-weapons-system-ever/

Is there no accountability at all in government???

[Cringing Negativism Network]

“In the rush to stay ahead of China and Russia,...”

-

A truly admirable goal.

The problem is, meanwhile we are supporting China by buying everything from there.

China is (rapidly) gaining ground.

Bring back American manufacturing. Now.

[miliantnutcase]

That’s really depressing.

[B4Ranch]

>>Is there no accountability at all in government???<<

If you see just one example, I’ll bet you made a mistake.

[Blood of Tyrants]

We can bring back manufacturing to the US by eliminating the income tax and repeal some of the job-killing environmental regulations.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

ObamaCare software debacle comes to mind...

[OneWingedShark]

More likely that they're using the wrong tool(s) for the job.

Wikipedia:
Unlike previous aircraft, such as the F-22, much of the new software for the F-35 is written in C and C++, because of programmer availability.

As Toyota found out, the "high reliability" C/C++ subsets don't work if they're not strictly used/followed — and C/C++ encourage sloppy programming (granted, not as much as PHP). Trying to bolt on safety to C/C++ is like polishing a turd: it isn't going to work.

Another thing that isn't really touched on is how easy/difficult reasoning about a program is; to illustrate I'll compare/contrast C with Ada just in the specification/header definitions:

C	Ada
// The following will return an integer; there is no guarantee that // it will be non-negative; therefore to write robust code you must // explicitly test for that condition. [min_int >= x >= max_int] int size( Obj* input );	-- The following function is guaranteed to return a value in the -- subset of "Natural" numbers [0..Integer'Last] or else raise -- the Constraint_Error exception. Function Size( Input : Object ) return Natural;

The same can be said for input-parameters, and even enumerations (discrete-values, commonly representing states) which are represented in C as an integer (which means you cannot make such guarantees) but in Ada really are discrete-values that are not interchangeable with other types (integer in the case of C). Multiply all those uncertainties by all your function inputs and function outputs and you've got a [comparatively] huge possible problem-space.

[ilovesarah2012]

US put China-made parts in F-35 fighter program

The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392 billion Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern about China’s espionage and military buildup.

According to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters, chief U.S. arms buyer Frank Kendall allowed two F-35 suppliers, Northrop Grumman and Honeywell International, to use Chinese magnets for the new warplane’s radar system, landing gears and other hardware. Without the waivers, both companies could have faced sanctions for violating federal law and the F-35 program could have faced further delays.

“It was a pretty big deal and an unusual situation because there’s a prohibition on doing defense work in China, even if it’s inadvertent,’’ said Frank Kenlon, who recently retired as a senior Pentagon procurement official and now teaches at American University. “I’d never seen this happen before.’’

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101309177

[OneWingedShark]

I read that and think: The F-22 would’ve been a better investment.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

We can bring back manufacturing to the US by stopping being such sell-out p_ssies, and stop sending every single American manufacturing plant to communist China.

And stop importing everything.

Go in any store. Walk down any aisle. Pick up anything:

“Made in China”.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

...and Lockheed Martin should be banned from ever doing business with the US Military ever again...

[hattend]

23 years? Good grief!

It’s out of date before it leaves the design stage.

[FlyingEagle]

Are they sure they are logged on?

Maybe should install Mac OSX instead of Windows 8.

[smokingfrog]

New software is always a little buggy.

Having to Ctl.+Alt.+Del. in the middle of a dogfight could be disastrous though.

[Tucker39]

Would I get flamed if I questioned whether the Aerospace Machinists’ Unions continuously striking for higher wages and fringes had anything to do with the outsourcing?

I would?!

O.K., then I won’t ask it.

Thanks.

[OneWingedShark]

New software is always a little buggy.

Not so; formal verification can utterly prevent bugs — Ironsides, for example, is guaranteed not to have buffer-overflows, unexpected termination or transfer of control.

[Arlis]

Want to see HOW FLAWED THE SOFTWARE IS?!?!?

You won’t believe this.....read the text in full before watching the video....

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150113735642761