F-22 Raptor News

December 22, 2006 (by Lieven Dewitte) - The Air Logistics Center's at Robins Air Force base will be the repair station for most of the software on the software-intensive F-22 Raptor, which contains about 2 million lines of code.
The decision means Robins will fill a key role in AFMC's sustainment plan, updating software for an integrated avionics suite that reportedly gives the F-22 pilot a "God's eye view" of the battlefield and the on-board systems to do something about it.

Robins already performs similar work on avionics systems for a broad range of Air Force aircraft.

The F-22 weapon system eventually will be managed and sustained by Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center will support the supersonic aircraft's Pratt and Whitney engines.

Both Ogden and Oklahoma City will work some software issues, but the Robins center will receive the bulk of the software taskings.

The software

The software that provides the avionics system's full functionality is composed of approximately 1.7 million lines of code. Ninety percent of the software is written in Ada, the Department of Defense's common computer language. Exceptions to the Ada requirement are granted only for special processing or maintenance requirements.

The avionics software is integrated in three blocks, each building on the capability of the previous block. Each block cycle is a sequence of subsystem deliveries, integration testing at the Avionics Integration Lab (AIL) at Boeing, and then delivery to Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Ga., for final integration into the aircraft and check out, as well as support to the aircraft.

• block 1 is primarily radar capability, but Block 1 does contain more than 50 percent of the avionics suite's full functionality source lines of code (SLOC) and provides end-to-end capability for the sensor-to-pilot data flow.
• Block 2 is the start of sensor fusion. It adds radio frequency coordination, reconfiguration, and some electronic warfare functions.
• Block 3 encompasses full sensor fusion built on enhanced electronic warfare and CNI functions. It has an embedded training capability and provides for electronic counter-counter measures (ECCM).
• Block 3.1 adds full GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) launch capability and Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) receive-only capability.
• Block 4 software (as proposed) will be post-EMD. It is scheduled to be integrated on the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) F-22s and will likely include helmet-mounted cueing, AIM-9X integration, and Joint Tactical Information Distribution System send capability.