Divide and conquer: Air Force’s next-gen fighter to get unique software system
“We can actually then change the mission systems and allow various vendors to compete, as long as they meet, form fit and function,” Air Force Gen. CQ Brown said. “And because it drives competition, you get a better end product, and ideally, it brings the price down as well.”
By VALERIE INSINNA
on April 15, 2022 at 2:00 PM
WASHINGTON: The Air Force’s future fighter is being built with its flight control software completely separated from the software governing its mission systems, a unique feature that the service’s top general said will allow the aircraft to be refreshed with new technologies more quickly.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown told reporters during a April 12 roundtable that the approach for the so-called Next Generation Air Dominance Program (NGAD) is one that he believes the service has not taken in any of its previous fighters.
“If you’re able to take the flight control software and separate it from the mission system software… [and] I plug in an extra black box with whatever computing power, it doesn’t interfere with the flight controls,” Brown said. “[In] the F-16 I flew, the mission software and the flight control software were all intertwined. So anytime you did a mission upgrade, you had to go back and make sure the aircraft is safe to fly.”
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/04/divide-and-conquer-air-forces-next-gen-fighter-to-get-unique-software-system/
