Software Bugs Rattle USAF F-35 Block 4 Progress

摘要

A software bug that effectively would have disabled the Northrop Grumman APG-81 radar on every U.S.-operated Lockheed Martin F-35A came uncomfortably close to being released to the Air Force fleet early last year. "We went all the way to the end of test until we realized the radar does not work," says Lt. Col. Mike Benitez, director of staff of the Air Force's 53rd Wing. The radar "was transmitting," Benitez adds. "It was not actually receiving and processing the signals right due to a software glitch." The 11th-hr. discovery came late but, appropriately, within the operational flight-test period, when any mistakes are supposed to be caught.