F-35B BF-04, Block 1.0 Software 장착 초도비행 실시...

 

지난 주, 美 Lockheed Martin 社가 개발 중인 F-35 Lightning II 항모/함재기 모델 C형 CF-01 기가 성능 시험비행에

투입 되었다는 소식을 전하면서 단거리 이륙 및 수직이착륙 (STOVL) 모델, F-35B 에 대한 Block 1.0 software 장착

시험비행 소식을 간략하게 전한 바 있었습니다. 마침 이와 관련된 Flight International 紙의 11월 15일字 기사가 있어

아래 소개 합니다.

 

이번 시험비행은, F-35B 4호기 BF-04 에 Block 1.0 software 를 장착하고 美 동부 Maryland 州 Patuxent River 해군

항공기지에서 약 1시간 50분간 실시되었으며, 약 9백만개의 s/w code 가 들어간 것으로 알려져 있습니다. 이는 F-35

Lightning II 의 최종 양산형에 적용되는 Block 3.0 의 약 1,160만개 s/w code 의 80% 수준이라 합니다.

 

5세대 스텔스 전투기 F-22A Raptor 에는 약 220만개의 s/w code 가 적용된 것을 비교한다면, 현재까지 F-35 의 개발

지연 및 개발비 상승의 주요 원인이 어디에 있는지 이해가 가는 부분 입니다.

 

한편 Lockheed Martin 社는 향후 F-35A CTOL 형 AF-03 과 함재기형 F-35C CF-03 에도 Block 1.0 software 를 탑재

하여 시험비행을 실시할 계획이라 합니다.

 

끝으로 앞서 소개한 바 있는 F-35 항전장비 및 Software 시험기 CATBird 관련 소식을 링크 합니다.  ---> 

 

F-35 Avionics Testbed CATBird

 

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DATE : 15/11/10

SOURCE : Flight International

F-35B flies with Block 1.0 software

By Stephen Trimble

 

Lockheed Martin has flown an F-35 flight test aircraft with the third of five major blocks of software for the first time, a key step as the programme has struggled to deliver an estimated 11.6 million lines of code demanded by fusing the aircraft's advanced sensors and avionics.

 

The F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) variant flew on 5 November with Block 1.0 software installed on the BF-4 flight test asset, Lockheed announced on 15 November.

 

The 1.5hr sortie by BF-4 comes six months after the Block 1.0 code started flying on a surrogate platform — a Boeing 737 modified by BAE Systems into the F-35's cooperative avionics testbed (CATBird) aircraft.

 

Lockheed has estimated Block 1.0 accounts for 80% of the total software code, suggesting about 9 million lines of code are written so far. The F-22, by contrast, requires only 2.2 million lines of code.

 

The same software block also will be installed on the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant's AF-3 and the F-35C carrier variant's CF-3 flight test aircraft, Lockheed says.

 

But the step comes as the programme faces yet another potential delaty and cost overruns partly caused by software development delays.

 

As late as 2007, Lockheed had planned to start flight tests on the Block 1.0 software, which provides the first sensor fusion capability, in the third quarter of 2009, or more than a year ago.

 

Software problems emerged as one of the key drivers for the $2.5 billion programme restructuring announced by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates last February. Part of the cost overrun was invested in a new software integration line.

 

Since then, mechanical reliability failures have slowed flight tests on the STOVL variant.

 

Meanwhile, details of a sweeping new analysis of the programme — called the technical baseline review — will be briefed on 22 November to the Defense Acquisition Board, a panel of top decision-makers on major acquisition programmes within the Pentagon. The review warns that the programme faces yet another delay, with a $2.5 to $5 billion cost overrun, according to leaked reports.

 

 

  ⓒ Lockheed Martin