US to withhold F-35 fighter software codes
 

Looks like the USA is not going to supply source codes for F35 software to anyone:

EXCLUSIVE-US to withhold F-35 fighter software codes - Forbes.com

"That includes everybody," he said, acknowledging this was not entirely popular among core partners -- Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.

"Nobody's happy with it completely. but everybody's satisfied and understands," he said of withholding the code from partners and Israel, which also has sought the technology transfer as part of a possible purchase of up to 75 F-35s

Good to know where we stand..........

OP

well that answers the question of what they'll do with the shed they kept the Chinooks in then! :}

I won't bother going back and digging them out, but successive SecDefs have stated that access to the codes was a prerequisite for a UK purchase.

No codes - no UK F-35 buy.

I wonder if the government will stick by that or now back down?

Not the first time that they have done this - good to see what 'Special Relationship' really means. Blair really did make the UK Americas' lap dog

I am betting the source includes a routine for "No missile launch" and "Americans can turn the engine off mid flight" delivered by link 16 then? :}

Even more reason to stop the extradition of the guy who hacked into the Pentagon's computer, we need him to hack the source code. :E

What a GREAT idea Granite...get Gary McKinnon on the case.

:ok:

Big deal! China probably has it already...

Old Gordo could be rubbing his hands here. An excellent excuse to duck out of the purchase saving squillions. he then decides there's no need for a carrier with no aircraft, another few squillion. No people required to man the non-existent kit, even more savings.

Of course, I could be wrong. :)

A quick question - without the opportunity to examine the source code, would it be possible to confirm airworthiness of the aircraft before entry into service?

TN

p.s. Green Granite :D

Not forgeting our deceitful stab in the back from our 'pals' across the water back in the late 1940's during the contest of supersonic flight.

Britain has been Americas' lap dog before Blair was even born!

Even with access to source code proving software correctness is almost impossible. It certainly isn't cheap in terms of man hours or money.

History has shown that software bugs will exist in almost all non-trivial code regardless of how much testing is implemented.

History's Worst Software Bugs

I'm surprised the Airbus A320 crash at the French airshow didn't make the list but there are plenty of air and space examples in there.

Edit: Fixed the link

I understand that. With 8 million lines of code, there will inevitably be some bugs, but my question is whether it can be certified as airworthy?

Can the MOD just take the manufacturers word for it? Are they allowed to?

TN

Meanwhile Australia has just confirmed their order of the JSF will go ahead despite U.S. officials saying they will keep secret the sensitive software codes to be used in the radar-evading fighter, limiting the ability of investor
countries to maintain and upgrade the fighters without U.S. involvement.
The single-engine F-35 can switch quickly between air-to-ground and
air-to-air missions while still flying -- tricks heavily dependent on its 8
million lines of onboard software code.

(Australian news article).

So could the Hunter.:rolleyes:

The switch from air - to - air to air - to -ground, software dependant, could result, if it's a little "buggy," in the air - to - ground being a "once only - disassemble Johnny 5" style manoeuvre!

And, more importantly, the F/A-18!

..and most other aircraft that carried a-a and a-s stuff...(at the same time)

Buster Hyman wrote:
<<Big deal! China probably has it already... >>
You hit the nail on the head, I think – trouble happened with another aircraft with the latest advanced avionics (can't remember off the top of my head just now – could have been an F16 or F18 variant?) - Israel supplied the software to China.
The USA can hardly give such software to some friendlies and not Israel, can it? Hence the new stuff can't go to anyone.

I think you are missing the point Walter, by 9000 miles or so.:ouch::ouch::ouch: