Last month the Defense Department independent weapon tester delayed the start of F-35 operational testing by two months while it waits for the newest versions of software to be delivered.
Robert Behler, the director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E), said in an Aug. 24 memo obtained by the Project on Government Oversight that the start of initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) for the F-35 is waiting until it gets software version 30R02.
The DOT&E office approved the current operationally-representative software version 30R00 for Pre-IOT&E Increment 2 test activities earlier this year because it was “adequate and relevant” to evaluating ship-ship missions involving lower end threats, the memo said.
However, Behler said version 30R02 provides “the next instantiation of operationally relevant and production-representative aircraft software” that better supports the required testing to adequately address the remaining mission areas. These includes strategic attack/air interdiction, offensive counter air, destruction and/or suppression of enemy air defenses, and electronic attack.
An F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) spokesperson said in an email that the JPO expects an operational test readiness certification in October, with the start of formal IOT&E expected in November. Under this timeline, IOT&E will be finished by next summer.
The spokesperson said the JPO, F-35 Joint Operational Test Team, DOT&E, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment “are in agreement that formal IOT&E will begin when the IOT&E readiness criteria are met, the Defense Acquisition Executive certifies readiness to test and then DOT&E approves the test plan.”
Behler’s memo explained an operationally relevant and production-representative test of the F-35 will require software version 30R02 plus Level 4 mission data files, Automatic Logistics Information System (ALIS) software version 3.0, and the same Air-to-Air Range Infrastructure (AARI) software version through the entirety of formal IOT&E.
Behler also noted the 30R00 has deficiencies in the AARI that are remedied in 30R02.
He said the formal IOT&E should use the same version of AARI and that the infrastructure system has to function properly to ensure test results are “accurate, understandable, and defensible,” he said.
“Changing AARI software version in the midst of IOT&E could potentially result in inconsistencies in data collection and affect the validity and adequacy of the test and evaluation,” Behler added.
The JPO spokesperson said the start of IOT&E is a “readiness-driven event” and that since January the program’s operational test team has been conducting the pre-IOT&E tests that count toward IOT&E for specific Block 3F capabilities because the applicable readiness criteria was met. This includes cold weather and weapons testing along with the aforementioned two-ship missions in lower threat environments.
The spokesperson underscored this approach aims to speed up feedback to the warfighter, leverage funding judiciously, “and inform continuous improvements of the F-35 while continuing to work toward meeting the readiness criteria for formal IOT&E.”