An F-35A Lightning II parks for the night under the sunshades at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. Photo: U.S. Air Force.
Key Points
- F-35 software and cyber-security weaknesses remain unresolved
- The mission system software supporting the aircraft’s radar is not stable enough for combat, a key concern as the USAF prepares its jets for deployment
Software and cyber-security weaknesses in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter are among the unresolved deficiencies that still plague the programme, even as the United States is poised to increase production, the Pentagon’s top weapons tester told US lawmakers during a 23 March hearing on Capitol Hill.
“The limited and incomplete F-35 cyber-security testing accomplished to date has … revealed deficiencies that cannot be ignored,” Michael Gilmore, the director of combat testing, said in a prepared statement for a hearing by the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces. Gilmore’s testimony summarises earlier reports that detail the risks of concurrent development and production of weapon systems.
Furthermore, the mission systems software supporting the aircraft’s Northrop Grumman AN/APG-81 AESA radar is not stable enough for combat, according to Gilmore’s testimony. The radar has to be restarted once every four hours of flying time, the statement said. The US Air Force (USAF) has said that fixing this issue remains its main concern before it can allow its jets to deploy in combat…..
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