Pentagon: 873 flaws in fighter F35: 2019 US Financial Year Annual Report
Pentagon:
The US Department of Defense has submitted its 2019 US fiscal year annual report to the US Congress.
It is pointed out that the latest stealth fighter F35 has 873 defects.
Defect findings:
Thirteen of the flaws are classified as “Category 1”, which has a serious impact on occupant safety.
The Pentagon’s Operational Testing and Evaluation Bureau has submitted a report dated January 30 to the US Congress.
There were a total of 873 defect indications.
For most flaws, the problem was recognized from the development stage.
However, he pointed out, “as of November 4, 2019, this has not been resolved.”
Details such as the breakdown of defects were not disclosed.
Type of defect:
Structural issues: cracks in the fuselage near the cannon,
Software bugs: extensive in the area of programming,
“Even if fixed, new flaws are discovered, so the reduction is negligible,” he warned.
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https://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/articles/-/549736
F-35’s Gun That Can’t Shoot Straight Adds to Its Roster of Flaws
January 30, 2020, 4:00 AM EST
Annual Pentagon testing report also finds 873 software issues
It cites 13 ‘must-fix’ items before $22 billion upgrade phase.
The 25mm gun on Air Force models of the Joint Strike Fighter has “unacceptable” accuracy in hitting ground targets and is mounted in housing that’s cracking,
the Pentagon’s test office said in its latest assessment of the costliest U.S. weapons system.
The annual assessment
by Robert Behler, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation,
doesn’t disclose any major new failings in the plane’s flying capabilities.
But it flags a long list of issues that his office said should be resolved —
including 13 described as Category 1 “must-fix” items that affect safety or combat capability — before the F-35’s upcoming $22 billion Block 4 phase.
The number of software deficiencies
totaled 873 as of November, according to the report obtained by Bloomberg News in advance of its release as soon as Friday.
That’s down from 917 in September 2018, when the jet entered the intense combat testing required before full production, including 15 Category 1 items.
What was to be a year of testing has now been extended another year until at least October.
https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2018-01-25/P33HSL6JTSE801