Walter
BUT your post was important for highlighting the MOD's capability with such software - would their evaluation of code as per FADECS etc be any better than accepting the manufacturers stuff as a turn key system anyway and judging on actual performance (as was the case in effect with the first HC2s)?
Judging by the fact Boscombe’s validation and verification task (ongoing in June 94, and part of the task which, if successful, would eventually permit Release to Service….. Ooops) had already discovered hundreds of errors in the software, I’d tend to give them the benefit of any doubt.
Back to this HC2 FADEC s/ware - we of course still have no idea of how much flying was done between the crash and significant changes to that code on other HC2s.
I take it MoD have not responded to your request?
On the subject of software and obtaining source code, it is worth remembering that MoD’s own regulations at the time mandated that if there is to be independent or in-house V&V (in these cases, by Boscombe) then the contract must;
“secure adequate rights of access and use to design information and code for itself and its agents while protecting the rights of the originators"
This was enshrined in a policy directive issued by the Deputy Under Secretary of State (Defence Procurement). The detailed instructions on how to implement the policy were issued by the Head of Comms and Computing Group, RSRE Malvern.
This was seemingly ignored.