Flight restrictions slow F-35 software testing

[unhappycamper]

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/20/6055900/flight-restrictions-slowing-down.html



This camper's take on the F-35 program

Flight restrictions slow F-35 software testing
By Tony Capaccio
Bloomberg News
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014

Flight restrictions on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 are hampering the Pentagon’s ability to conduct software tests that the plane must pass before it can be declared combat-ready by next July, according to the Pentagon’s weapons-testing office.

The start of rigorous in-flight testing on the initial software for the Marine Corps version of the fighter is already five months late and may be further delayed by the flight restrictions imposed on the 20 test aircraft and 79 training jets after an engine fire on an Air Force F-35 on June 23.

“Many test points remain blocked or difficult to achieve” because of the restrictions, Jennifer Elzea, a spokeswoman for Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of operational testing, said in an emailed statement. “This may cause further delays in completing” testing of the software, she said.

The Defense Department initially grounded the entire fleet of 99 F-35s made by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth after a fire in a plane at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida forced the pilot to abort a takeoff.

[intaglio]

1. Owning a boat is often called pouring money into a hole in the water

This is obviously pouring money into a hole in the air.