https://nationalinterest.org/blog/bu...-history-44742
The F-35 is Set to Receive the Deadliest (and Most Expensive) Software Patch in History
.......”An earlier GAO cost estimate of $3.9 billion for Block 4 implementation was revealed to have quadrupled to $16 billion in hearing in March 2018: $10.8 billion for development and testing, and $5.4 billion for procurement of the upgrades. And according to an
analysis on Defense-Aerospace, even $16 billion is likely inadequate.
Meanwhile, though the Pentagon has begun outlaying hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for Block 4 development, it doesn’t have the funding to pay for it all—even though foreign F-35 partners are on the hook to pay $3.7 billion in development costs, whether or not they procure Block 4.
The programs costs several times exceed the threshold for designation as a “Major Defense Acquisition Program,” leading the Government Accountability Office recommended that Block 4 be peeled off into a separate MDAP. However, the F-35’s Joint Program Office objected, not wanting to disrupt its management of the F-35. A Congressional vote in 2017 affirmed the JPO’s position.
Block 4, which also goes by the name Continuous Capability Development and Delivery (C2D2), will take place in four six-month phases numbered 4.1 through 4.4 with some development occurring concurrently—an approach which has caused problems in the F-35. For example, many software upgrades are predicated on hardware that is itself still under development, meaning integration difficulties are likely to impose delays.........”