Tender now out for the new RCAF Fighters

[Guest]

I think it is about time that we make damn sure we actually need "first strike fighters" .  If we are attacked, the number that we could afford would not do much to stop a major world power.  http://rabble.ca/news/2010/10/f-35-stealth-fighters-are-shock-and-awe-warfare-not-canadas-needs

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-cf-18-replacement-jets-rfp-1.5221610

Ottawa formally asks companies to make their pitches to replace CF-18 jets

The federal government formally submitted requests for proposals (RFP) today to procure fighter jets to replace the decades-old CF-18s.

A decision on the winning bid is not expected until 2022

[conehead]

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2017/05/canadian-top-gun-sequel-centres-around-pilots-waiting-around-government-procure-jets/

Canadian Top Gun sequel centres around pilots waiting around for government to procure jets

MAY 24, 2017 by ALEX HUNTLEY(@AJHUNTLEY)  

 

 

COLD LAKE, AB – Filmmakers have already started production of Canadian-themed sequel to the blockbuster hit TOP GUN, which is premised around two renegade pilots waiting for their aging CF-18s to be replaced.

‘Dawdling Wings’ will feature nail-biting scenes of the RCAF’s very best sitting in briefing rooms checking their watches and asking when the new jets would arrive, a thrilling demonstration of aerospace procurement paperwork, and Operations and Maintenance auditing from the Parliamentary Budget Office.

“This bold new film doesn’t actually feature any scenes of dogfighting,” explained Director Val Scott, “because the real action occurs deep inside the federal bureaucracy fighting with aerospace companies, and often with itself.”

Starring in the film are Paul Gross as Captain Mark ‘Slick’ Anderson, Patrick Huard as Captain Maurice ‘Caboche’ LaFleche, and Peter ‘Lady Killer’ Mackay as himself.

[Guest]

The Pentagon’s weapons tester has concerns about the F-35’s new software development process

By: Valerie Insinna    44 minutes ago

 

 

An F-35A soars over Hill Air Force Base, Utah, during a demonstration practice Jan. 10, 2020. (Senior Airman Alexander Cook/U.S. Air Force)

 

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is banking on agile software development to keep the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter capable of evolving to beat looming threats, but a new report questions the department’s ability to keep on top of continual software updates.

In 2018, the F-35 program shifted to an agile software development model, known as DevOps among coders and as Continuous Capability Development and Delivery (C2D2) within the program. The goal, according to program leaders, was to push out incremental software improvements and corrections to past deficiencies on a quicker pace rather than implementing a large update once a year or so.

However, Robert Behler, the Pentagon’s independent weapons tester, characterizes the current schedule for C2D2 as “high risk” and said the program office is struggling to stay on schedule, he said in an annual report published Jan. 30 by the Operational Test and Evaluation Office.

“The current Continuous Capability Development and Delivery (C2D2) process has not been able to keep pace with adding new increments of capability as planned,” the office’s director wrote. “Software changes, intended to introduce new capabilities or fix deficiencies, often introduced stability problems and adversely affected other functionality.”

Pentagon’s weapons tester slams new F-35 modernization plan as unrealistic

A new report raises questions about how the Pentagon could execute the next phase of the F-35 program.

By: Valerie Insinna

Under the C2D2 construct, F-35s are set to receive software updates every six months. That leaves little time to test out the new code, often resulting in “significant” bugs being discovered in the field, Behler wrote.

 

To prove out new software, the program office intends to rely more on modeling and simulation tools like the Joint Simulation Environment, which emulates high-end threats. However, the DOT&E report states that the Pentagon needs to adequately fund these simulation tools, and that as of the writing of the report, no significant changes to the F-35’s existing laboratories or simulation environments had occurred, the report said.

Spokespersons for Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Guest1]

Sure hope someone in YOW is reading the following story and more importantly paying attention.

Quote

The F-35 may be unsalvageable
Sean Kennedy, opinion contributor  4 hrs ago
6 Comments
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a large airplane flying high up in the air: The F-35 may be unsalvageable© Getty Images The F-35 may be unsalvageable
The 2021 reviews of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) are in, and they are not glowing.

On Jan. 14, 2021, then-Acting Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Christopher Miller labeled the JSF a "piece of [expletive]." Then, on March 5, 2021, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) called the program a "rathole," and asked whether it was time to stop spending that much money for "such a low capability?"

The JSF has become the embodiment of the DOD's broken weapons acquisition system, which has been on the Government Accountability Office's High-Risk List since 1990. The F-35 was originally conceived as the low-end of a high-low strategy consisting of numerous cheap aircraft that would replace Cold War workhorses like the F-16 and A-10 among other aircraft. The plan was for the JSF to be complimented by a smaller fleet of more advanced fighters, to be developed later.

The program has been under continuous development since the contract was awarded in 2001 and has faced innumerable delays and cost overruns. Total acquisition costs now exceed $428 billion, nearly double the initial estimate of $233 billion, with projected lifetime operations and maintenance costs of $1.727 trillion.

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On April 26, 2016, then-Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) called the JSF program "both a scandal and a tragedy with respect to cost, schedule, and performance." In February 2014, then-Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall referred to the purchase of the F-35 as "acquisition malpractice," a description that has yet to be improved upon.

The JSF has been plagued by a staggering array of persistent issues, many of which were highlighted in the fiscal year (FY) 2019 DOD Operational Test and Evaluation Annual Report, which revealed 873 unresolved deficiencies including 13 Category 1 items, involving the most serious flaws that could endanger crew and aircraft. While this is an overall reduction from the 917 unresolved deficiencies and 15 Category 1 items found in September 2018, the report stated that "although the program is working to fix deficiencies, new discoveries are still being made, resulting in only a minor decrease in the overall number of deficiencies."

Many of the problems with the program can be traced to the decision to develop and procure the aircraft simultaneously. Whenever problems have been identified, contractors needed to go back and make changes to planes that were already assembled, adding to overall costs.

Despite the abject failure of the JSF, the DOD is revisiting the high-low approach. According to Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Brown, the F-35, intended to serve as a low-end utilitarian aircraft, is now a high-end sports car: "You don't drive your Ferrari to work every day, you only drive it on Sundays." On March 10, 2021, the Air Force accepted delivery of the first of 144 upgraded F-15EXs. Gen. Brown is targeting the FY 2023 budget request to fund an F-16 replacement. The old low-end has become the new high-end, and those F-16s and A-10s still need to be replaced.

Although it has an extraordinarily poor track record, killing off the JSF entirely will prove difficult. According to a map showing the economic impact across the country on Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II website, the only states that do not have at least one supplier for the aircraft are Hawaii and North Dakota. This gives all but two representatives and four senators more than enough incentive to not only keep greasing the wheels, but also to add 32 earmarks for the JSF program, costing $10.6 billion, since FY 2001. There has also been significant investment in the program by North Atlantic Treaty Organization members and other allies. The best taxpayers can likely hope for, barring an uncharacteristic recalibration with reality from the Pentagon, is that the program gets significantly scaled back.

The DOD is at an inflection point. The design by committee, Swiss-army knife approach has been a resounding failure. Moving forward, the Pentagon must avoid purchasing aircraft prior to completion of the design and development phases and reduce the red tape that has slowed down the process. In the interim, the time has come reduce the cost and scope of the F-35 program.