More F35 woes

[Blackjack56]

Morning all, i was at Marham yesterday(Monday)and was talking to someone about when the F35 would fly and he told me that a serving member of the RAF had told him that a dozy contractor had dug up the data cables linking the control centre to the hangars meaning that they couldn't upload or download informationto the aircraft and hence they couldn't fly!.Don't shoot the messenger but if this is true it begs many questions about cyber attacks and vulnerability etc but that's for another discussion.

[Dan D'Air]

And bombing an airfield...

[Johno]

I probably have a picture of him doing it from the "Enthusiasts day" last week !

[Blackjack56]

Just had a brainwave.somewhere in a dusty corner perhaps there might be the old nav/attack equipment used by the early Tornados,they were loaded using a cassette tape(remember them?)and the computing power of a Sinclair spectrum (128k),but it worked.....just a thought.

[Sparts99]

There must be another way of transferring the data, how could it operate away from home base in locations without the infrastucture? Maybe that part of the system isn't ready yet as training and procedures etc are developed.

[baz1]

so in that case if one as to divert some were how does it take of again to RTB??

[Blackjack56]

Good point baz1,i suppose they are playing it ultra safe until they have more operational experience,after all they can'treally take risks with a £100m aircraft.

[Sparts99]

so in that case if one as to divert some were how does it take of again to RTB??

back of a Queen Mary trailer obvs.

[Ross Forsyth]

so in that case if one as to divert some were how does it take of again to RTB??

I`d imagine the issue is more to do with "loading up" a mission profile as opposed to simply RTB`ing which wouldn`t require as much detailing of waypoints and time on targets etc? Whereas an RTB will just be point to point in the NAV system and by that I mean obviously still following a flight plan but that`ll be a lot more simplified than a mission plan (i`d like to think that can still be manually input but who knows)

[baz1]

yes I would have thought there would be an override system in place, at least they got to Marham ok

[Blackcat1]

Modern technology , can't beat it eh.

[big john]

“The ingenious, automated ALIS system that Lockheed Martin has built will be very efficient and cost-effective,” an anonymous Israeli Air Force officer told Defense News. “But the only downfall is that it was built for countries that don’t have missiles falling on them.” or careless digger drivers.

[Dan423]

It's not so much a matter of not being able to fly, it's more of a case that data for mission profiles and such like can't be connected for planned training sorties. They don't just take off and fly around for the sake of it. The jets where I work are a lot older than the 35 but still have data transferred for different missions... If a contractor went through cables here then missions would be reduced so it's s not just another F-35 problem. It's this kind of guff that the gutter press prey upon without knowing the full picture. It's incredibly infuriating but since the age of the Internet and people knowing it all, the F-35 program is too easily picked apart. How many development woes did the Typhoon/Tornado/F-15/Javelin/F-4/insert any jet have? Difference being those hiccups weren't shared so readily and blown out of proportion via the Internet. It's a shame.

[Sparts99]

Well said Dan. It was press and politcal misinformation or bias like this that sealed the fate of TSR-2, had a dispassionate view been taken of the project it might, might, not have been cancelled. The F-35 is high profile because of its cost. Once sorted it will be a hugley capable aircraft, but it's on the leading (bleeding as we call it) edge of technology, so its bound to be a tricky and lengthy process to get it right.

[sneezy24]

Just had a brainwave.somewhere in a dusty corner perhaps there might be the old nav/attack equipment used by the early Tornados,they were loaded using a cassette tape(remember them?)and the computing power of a Sinclair spectrum (128k),but it worked.....just a thought.

Probably a Penny and Giles data cassette - they used to emulate a paper-tape reader! (we used them on Nimrod MR2 - I was a diagnostic programmer for Marconi-Elliott)

[James Cutting]

Where's a yawn emoji when it's needed??

[Blackjack56]

I agree,it will i'm sure be a very capable aircraft once the teething problems are sorted and no one could have forseen an accident like this,it is a good thing that issues like this occur in peacetime so the RAF can learn from it and get contingency plans in place,The fact remains that it is a hugely expensive project when you consider the whole package with the Royal Navy's new carriers as well.also we will now be in hock to the americans for 30 years plus during which time if history repeats itself spares and technical support will come at an additional extortionate cost,so yes i really hope we haven't bought a very expensive white elephant.

[Fighterfoto]

Then again the third hand story about the cable cutting could be complete tosh.

[RJ79]

It could be Fighterfoto but in 2005 at the first RIAT I worked at, one of the contractors putting a marquee up mistook the blue electrical line markers for a 'please stick your darn great tent peg here' sign and knocked the fibre optics for a period of time! It wouldn't surprise me one bit

[Nighthawke]

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