F-35 Issues and Concerns

1. F-35 Issues and Concerns Its 360 Final Presentation by Joshua Waring

2. Introduction • The F-35 was part of the Joint-Strike-Fighter military program started in 1996 (an all-in-one fighter jet for the US and its allies) • The F-35 project was plagued from the beginning with issues • Costs • Compatibility • Timeline • SOFTWARE Issues • The project is now nearing completion, but there are still some issues to be resolved

3. Overview • The F-35 was originally meant to be a one-size-fits all fighter for all branches of the military, in hopes that there wouldn’t need to be a new plane designed for each branch of the military (which at the time was supposed to save costs). • Now the plane see different versions, such as the F35-a, F35-b, etc. for the different branches of the military. • These constantly changing parameters and expectations by the different branches of the military led to a project that is purportedly more costly than developing 3 different fighters for the Navy, Air Force and Army.

4. Overview • Software bugs and malfunctions were one of the main concerns among the many issues plaguing the development of the F-35 • The software was developed concurrently to the fighter jet itself, so the software was constantly having to evolve and change as plans for the jet underwent significant modification, which led to complications and delays

5. Software development concerns • Much of the software had to be designed from the ground up as it involved new technologies and systems for targeting and sharing data with other F-35s • As a result of a suspected data breach by the Chinese in 2007*, much of the software had to undergo significant changes to ensure it remained secure • The company that developed many of the in-flight control and combat systems (BAE) was breached in 2012*, which meant more changes had to be made to the software to ensure it could not be breached

6. Software Issues • One of the reasons the software is so important in the F-35 is that the plane itself is outmatched and outmaneuvered by other fighters both in the US and Russian military, so the fighter relies heavily on stealth technology to detect and eliminate enemy aircraft before they’re aware of the presence of the F-35. • Issues in software for the stealth technology and enemy detection systems can potentially render the plane extremely vulnerable, as it is meant as a long-range fighter and not for dogfights.

7. Software bugs • There were many bugs during the development of the software, which is to be expected. However, some bugs and issues were not discovered until combat-readiness testing began taking place. • One example was the display of “ghost” or duplicate enemy aircraft on the radar system of the F-35, which used complicated new software to share data between planes and allow targeting of enemies outside of a singular F-35’s normal range.

8. Software Bugs (cont.) • Another more recent bug has occurred as the aircraft is starting to see more active use—the parts ordering and maintenance scheduling system (ALIS) has lost orders and had issues with maintenance scheduling. • There has also been reports of the F-35 computer system needing to be rebooted mid-flight as the software crashes or degrades in responsiveness/accuracy. • Other bugs include issues with the electronic warfare and weapons systems, but these have been largely resolved as the plane nears “completion”.

9. Ethical issues • Due to the significant bugs and issues discovered in readiness testing of the F-35’s software, many were concerned with the safety of the aircraft, especially since it cost so much and would be equipped with powerful weapons. • The Department of Defense began accepting delivery of unfinished F-35s from Lockheed Martin, even before the design was finalized, which meant those jets had to undergo significant renovations before they could actually be tested.

10. Solutions • I think that Lockheed Martin and its sub-contractors (ie, Raytheon) should be held responsible by the DOD for ensuring that development of the F-35 is completed in a timely (and relatively cost-effective) manner. • I think that the F-35 software development issues were a side-affect of the JSF program issues—the program was constantly over-budge, behind schedule, and changing in expectations. • For the safety of the pilots and civilians, I [obviously] think that the plane shouldn’t be flown until all known software issues or concerns are either resolved or fixed, and extensive testing should be done for any possible other bugs that might come up in real-time flight before the F-35 is handed over to the DOD for readiness testing.

11. Outcome • The DOD has begun accepting what Lockheed Martin is calling the finished design of the different versions of the F-35. However, some software and technical issues remain. • Further testing must be done before the F-35 sees widespread actual combat duty, as some combat systems remain unfinished and untested. • Complete delivery of the F-35 to its respective military branches won’t occur for some time, as it is still undergoing stress-testing and debugging, and incidents (such as the loss of one of the Japanese fighters) have delayed widespread approval of the fighter.

12. References • Ethics in Information Technology, George Reynolds, January 1, 2018 • Defensenews.com, Bad data in F-35 logistics system resulting in lost missions, Valerie Insinna, January 31, 2019 • Popular Mechanics: How the Joint Strike Fighter Got to Be Such a Mess, Eric Tegler, July 27, 2018 • Video: https://www.businessinsider.com/americas-400-billion-warplane-bugs-f35-dod-report-pentagon-lockheed-martin-2016-2?jwsource=cl