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by vipa123 2507 days ago
I agree that Kubernetes-powered fighter jets is a bad idea, bordering on catastrophically bad. That said, I assume they'll be using Kubernetes as a development and test platform -on the ground- to produce some form of binary output that would go on the plane.
3 comments

If it's any k8s distro let it be openshift. Best selinux integration.

That said, how can you not wince reading, "To do this, Lockheed wanted to adopt principles and frameworks common in software lexicon like agile, scrum, minimum viable product (MVP) and DevSecOps."

Flying on MVP software must surely be exhilerating.
If you read MVP with a German pronunciation of V then you get Minimum Flyable Product.
"You guys have got a lot of nice words! Any way we can get some of those words over here?"
Avionics software on new systems is, in a way, logically similar to kubernetes actually :)

Instead of having separate computers, you now tend to have fewer "servers" which run multiple modules in isolated partitions, communicating over the common network using unidirectional messages; whether using SAE AS5643 - aka IEEE-1394 - like in F-35 and X-47, or over mutated Ethernet known as AFDX (A380, A350, B787).

However a big portion of JSF issues is also in ground software - there's a dedicated set of platforms required to operate F-35, which is also known for infamously depending on connectivity to Lockheed servers or the airplane stops working.

The system involved, ALIS, had als infamously took more time to deploy during a test squadron redeployment than the whole redeployment - which I guess they might be trying to speed up using Kubernetes.

From what I heard ALIS appears to still be done the same style as certain other logistics software from lockheed back in 2010, and that doesn't say anything good.

> ...today announced that Lockheed Martin worked with Red Hat to modernize the application development process used to bring new capabilities to the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets.

They later talk about agile vs waterfall as well as devops. It doesn't read like this is going on a plane, probably just dev and test environments.