The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II multirole fighter plane has numerous software and hardware flaws. So many, in fact, that it won't be ready to deploy before 2019:
The F-35 multirole fighter won't be close to ready before 2019, the US House Armed Services Committee was told on Wednesday. The aircraft, which is supposed to reinvigorate the American military's air power, is suffering numerous problems, largely down to flaws in the F-35's operating system. These include straightforward code crashes, having to reboot the radar every four hours, and serious security holes in the code.
Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation, reported that the latest F-35 operating system has 931 open, documented deficiencies, 158 of which are Category 1 – classified as those that could cause death, severe injury, or severe illness. "The limited and incomplete F-35 cybersecurity testing accomplished to date has nonetheless revealed deficiencies that cannot be ignored," Gilmore said in his testimony [PDF]. "Cybersecurity testing on the next increment of ALIS [Autonomic Logistics Information System] – version 2.0.2 – is planned for this fall, but may need to be delayed because the program may not be able to resolve some key deficiencies and complete content development and fielding as scheduled."
He reported that around 60 per cent of aircraft used for testing were grounded due to software problems. He cited one four-aircraft exercise that had to be cancelled after two of the four aircraft aborted "due to avionics stability problems during startup."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Thursday March 24 2016, @09:58AM
I'm not sure when Australia signed on to buy lots of these (and to keep paying til something gets delivered, likely around 2025)
VTOL was ruled out
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread209322/pg1 [abovetopsecret.com]
Then "stealth" turned out to mean "no one with an old radar can see it"
Now it can't even fly.
How did they get planes like the B2 so right, and this.. so wrong?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday March 24 2016, @10:04AM
Same reason why SpaceX has whipped the launch industry: the military-industrial complex doesn't even try anymore [soylentnews.org].
Here's an article that came out 5 minutes ago:
ERIK PRINCE IN THE HOT SEAT
Blackwater’s Founder Is Under Investigation for Money Laundering, Ties to Chinese Intel, and Brokering Mercenary Services [theintercept.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]