Hailed as the most complex, sophisticated, and technically advanced fighter ever to take flight, the F-35 Lightning II is being designed and built by the best engineers and developers in their field, spanning nine countries. The amount of computing power required to successfully accomplish its missions exceeds that of a typical aircraft several times over. Its communication system enables data sharing with other platforms in the air, at sea and on the ground through Web enabled logistics support developed via a new standard common across the nine countries involved in its development.
And the F-35's Multi-Function Display System will give pilots six full-motion video images simultaneously with a display rate of one gigabyte per second, which is just one of the features making it the most advanced tactical display ever developed.
In a recent monthly report on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England was quoted as saying, "The F-35 Lightning II will be the centerpiece of airpower in the 21st century for America and our allies." Challenge With a project span of 10 years and more than 1,000 software developers writing and testing the more than 19 million lines of code1 needed to support the aircraft's technological superiority, the Lightning II commands an equally robust and effective system to manage and enforce process in a collaborative and distributed group environment to keep the project within exact specifications.
Managing these processes within all International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) across the team of developers spanning many companies across nine countries is the mission of David Sopko, JSF Dimensions Architect at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. It's Sopko's job to ensure that the structural integrity, connectivity, security, and uses of the Lightning II's software development process management solution is
appropriate, enabling partners to collaborate and ensuring that the mission's software development processes are followed. Sopko is also charged with training users on the most effective use of the system.
According to Sopko, using custom reports in Dimensions has become a longstanding critical component
of configuration management, starting with previous fighter plane programs and continuing with the F-35 Lightning II today. “We find that the ability to create and use custom reports in Dimensions is essential to the way we do our configuration management in the JSF program,” Sopko said. “Over the years we have generated many different customized Dimensions reports that have become the backbone of our CM schema. Many of these reports were created in previous fighter programs but are still pertinent to the F-35 program.”
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), also called the Lighting II, is a new strike fighter being procured in different versions for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. F-35 procurement began in FY2007. Current Department of Defense (DOD) plans call for acquiring a total of 2,456 JSFs for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy at an estimated total acquisition cost (as of December 31, 2007) of about $246 billion in constant (i.e., inflation-adjusted) FY2009 dollars. The F-35 program is DOD’s largest weapon procurement program in terms of total estimated acquisition cost. Hundreds of additional F-35s are expected to be purchased by several U.S. allies, eight of which are cost-sharing partners in the program.
The administration’s proposed FY2010 defense budget requested a total of about $10.4 billion for the F-35 program, including about $3.6 billion in Air Force and Navy research and development funding and about $6.8 billion in Air Force and Navy procurement funding. (Development and procurement of Marine Corps aircraft are funded through the Navy’s budget.) The proposed FY2010 budget would fund the procurement of 10 F-35As for the Air Force, 16 F-35Bs for the Marine Corps, and four F-35Cs for the Navy.
The administration’s proposed FY2010 defense budget also proposed terminating the F-35 alternate engine program, which is intended to develop the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 engine as an alternative to the Pratt and Whitney F135 engine that currently powers the F-35. The George W. Bush administration proposed terminating the alternate engine program in FY2007, FY2008, and FY2009. Congress rejected these proposals and provided funding, bill language, and report language for the program’s continuation. The F-35 alternate engine program has emerged as a major item of debate on the FY2010 defense budget.
The Obama administration opposes further funding for the alternate engine program and has threatened to veto the FY2010 defense authorization or appropriation bill if either “would seriously disrupt” the F-35 program. The issues for Congress for FY2010 are whether to approve or reject the administration’s proposal to terminate the alternate engine program, and whether to approve, reject, or modify the administration’s overall funding request for the F-35 program. Congress’s decisions on these matters will affect DOD capabilities and funding requirements and the tactical aircraft manufacturing industrial base.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), also called the Lighting II, is a new strike fighter being procured in different versions for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. F-35 procurement began in FY2007. Current Department of Defense (DOD) plans call for acquiring a total of 2,456 JSFs for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy at an estimated total acquisition cost (as of December 31, 2007) of about $246 billion in constant (i.e., inflation-adjusted) FY2009 dollars. The F-35 program is DOD’s largest weapon procurement program in terms of total estimated acquisition cost. Hundreds of additional F-35s are expected to be purchased by several U.S. allies, eight of which are cost-sharing partners in the program.
The administration’s proposed FY2010 defense budget requested a total of about $10.4 billion for the F-35 program, including about $3.6 billion in Air Force and Navy research and development funding and about $6.8 billion in Air Force and Navy procurement funding. (Development and procurement of Marine Corps aircraft are funded through the Navy’s budget.) The proposed FY2010 budget would fund the procurement of 10 F-35As for the Air Force, 16 F-35Bs for the Marine Corps, and four F-35Cs for the Navy.
To the most beautiful devlopment done by talented team work..&..
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