US won't share F-35 code

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., could wind up with another F-35-related mission in addition to being the primary Joint Strike Fighter training center. Reuters is reporting that the United States plans to keep to itself sensitive software code that controls the F-35 fighter, despite requests from nations that have helped fund the JSF. The code is key to the plane's electronic brains, Jon Schreiber, who heads the program's international affairs, told Reuters. Instead, the United States plans to set up a "reprogramming facility," probably at Eglin, to further develop F-35-related software and distribute upgrades, he said. Software changes will be integrated there "and new operational flight programs will be disseminated out to everybody who's flying the jet," Schreiber told Reuters. (Source: Reuters, 11/25/09)