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US Air Force sends software updates to one of its oldest aircraft midair
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US Air Force sends software updates to one of its oldest aircraft midair
www.defensenews.com...[editby ]edit on 10/13/2020 by Masisoar because: (no reason given)
WASHINGTON — For the first time, the U.S. Air Force updated the software code on one of its aircraft while it was in flight, the service announced Oct. 7.
And there’s a surprise twist: The aircraft involved wasn’t the “flying computer” F-35, the mysterious B-21 bomber still under development, or any of the Air Force’s newest and most high-tech jets. Instead, the service tested the technology aboard the U-2 spy plane, one of the oldest and most iconic aircraft in the Air Force’s inventory.
On Sept. 22, the U-2 Federal Laboratory successfully updated the software of a U-2 from the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, which was engaged in a training flight near Beale Air Force Base, California, the Air Force said in a news release.
To push the software code from the developer on the ground to the U-2 in flight, the Air Force used Kubernetes, a containerized system that allows users to automate the deployment and management of software applications. The technology was originally created by Google and is currently maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.
For the demonstration, the U-2 lab employed Kubernetes to “run advanced machine-learning algorithms” to the four flight-certified computers onboard the U-2, modifying the software without negatively affecting the aircraft’s flight or mission systems, the service said.
[...]
“We need to decouple the flight controls, the [open-mission systems], all the air worthiness piece of the software from the rest of the mission [and] capability of [that] software so we can update those more frequently without disrupting or putting lives at risk when it comes to the flying piece of the jet or the system,” Chaillan said then.
www.defensenews.com...[editby ]edit on 10/13/2020 by Masisoar because: (no reason given)
a reply to: Masisoar
I am no aviation expert or even a computer expert but that seems to me to be just damned lazy, it is a serious security issue as well.
If they are broadcasting information then that information can be intercepted, a little time later it can be reverse engineered and codes and binary's cracked, this gives any potential hostile a window by which they can then hack craft in flight.
A purely idiotic solution in terms of military or civil aviation, all updates should and MUST be done via a hard-line connection on the ground to avoid such potentially catastrophic security holes.
Whomever dreamed this up needs to have there security status reviewed AND it is just so that they can be lazy about updating, cheaper by employing less engineers to do the job and while it will be faster it will also be open to interception and that gives the enemy a chance to use the same system to upload whatever they want to your air craft.
I am no aviation expert or even a computer expert but that seems to me to be just damned lazy, it is a serious security issue as well.
If they are broadcasting information then that information can be intercepted, a little time later it can be reverse engineered and codes and binary's cracked, this gives any potential hostile a window by which they can then hack craft in flight.
A purely idiotic solution in terms of military or civil aviation, all updates should and MUST be done via a hard-line connection on the ground to avoid such potentially catastrophic security holes.
Whomever dreamed this up needs to have there security status reviewed AND it is just so that they can be lazy about updating, cheaper by employing less engineers to do the job and while it will be faster it will also be open to interception and that gives the enemy a chance to use the same system to upload whatever they want to your air craft.
edit on 13-10-2020 by LABTECH767 because: (no reason given)
originally posted by: LABTECH767
a reply to: Masisoar
I am no aviation expert or even a computer expert but that seems to me to be just damned lazy, it is a serious security issue as well.
If they are broadcasting information then that information can be intercepted, a little time later it can be reverse engineered and codes and binary's cracked, this gives any potential hostile a window by which they can then hack craft in flight.
A purely idiotic solution in terms of military or civil aviation, all updates should and MUST be done via a hard-line connection on the ground to avoid such potentially catastrophic security holes.
Whomever dreamed this up needs to have there security status reviewed AND it is just so that they can be lazy about updating, cheaper by employing less engineers to do the job and while it will be faster it will also be open to interception and that gives the enemy a chance to use the same system to upload whatever they want to your air craft.
As with most if not all military software and or communication, I'm quite confident its using some hard encryption.
a reply to: LABTECH767
Maybe it can serve another purpose they didn't explore/discuss in the article.
Maybe it can serve another purpose they didn't explore/discuss in the article.
Why do I get images of the Blue Screen of Death every time I here the word "Software Upgrade"...
a reply to: eXia7
It definitely will be however ALL encryption can be broken, even quantum encryption perhaps.
And it is not like in WW2 were the Royal Navy captured the first intact Enigma machine from a German U boat, unlike a room full of savant's trying to crack a code these days we have lightning fast state of the art computers that can do it in a fraction of the time.
And access to huge database of information being harvested from the internet through front company's and getting folk's to use cloud computing which is really just big brother through the back door but that is another debate, however it plays into this in as follow's, that data is being used to train computer systems and program's that will be able to crack pretty much anything in almost no time at all.
And not only in the US, the Russians are definitely doing so and even more definitely the Chinese are as well, so how secure are those encoded transmissions, only as secure as it takes time for them to capture and decode them and as I have just illustrated that will be pretty quick from capture to decode.
It's like an open wound waiting for an infection.
It definitely will be however ALL encryption can be broken, even quantum encryption perhaps.
And it is not like in WW2 were the Royal Navy captured the first intact Enigma machine from a German U boat, unlike a room full of savant's trying to crack a code these days we have lightning fast state of the art computers that can do it in a fraction of the time.
And access to huge database of information being harvested from the internet through front company's and getting folk's to use cloud computing which is really just big brother through the back door but that is another debate, however it plays into this in as follow's, that data is being used to train computer systems and program's that will be able to crack pretty much anything in almost no time at all.
And not only in the US, the Russians are definitely doing so and even more definitely the Chinese are as well, so how secure are those encoded transmissions, only as secure as it takes time for them to capture and decode them and as I have just illustrated that will be pretty quick from capture to decode.
It's like an open wound waiting for an infection.
And I thought Ford performing 'regular maintenance' on my system while driving on the highway was bad... (ya, they rebooted my car while in use). I
stand corrected. This is much much worse
a reply to: LABTECH767
By the time the update was announced it was long gone from the airwaves and I'd imagine you would only transmit the changes so there is both less data to be transferred and also if you don't have the original data it makes virtually no sense.
By the time the update was announced it was long gone from the airwaves and I'd imagine you would only transmit the changes so there is both less data to be transferred and also if you don't have the original data it makes virtually no sense.
a reply to: Maxatoria
Good point and it would have likely only been done in controlled air space however it only takes one leak or one very determined enemy nation with there own electronic warfare observation suit to intercept it so it is still an idiotic cost cutting measure that may cost the lives of young US air force personnel in the future.
Remember the original NASA missions - after Apollo 1 which I think was deliberate - every nut and bolt, gasket and tank, every equation (Done by people not computers for the most part) was triple checked and then checked again by professional dedicated intelligent highly qualified men and woman, that is how to do safety but even there cost cutting meant that NASA cut back eventually and because of both that and obvious human fatigue the challenger disaster was the outcome, lives were lost because of that completely preventable lapse in safety standards no matter how they white wash it.
Given that analogy and yes military personnel are expected to die on occasion in the name of the greater good BUT a nation or any military or agency is still responsible for there well being, putting there lives and indeed the lives of civilians on the ground at risk no matter how low that threat is perceived to be (it is not low at all but a medium level threat - far too many potential weak link's in that chain both personnel and technological) is like giving an enemy a free victory and is a betrayal of the trust of the nation, it's service personnel and there tax money.
In an emergency scenario were it is not used commonly fine, in a routine fashion it should never become standard practice that is not just asking for trouble it is actively inviting it and leaving the door open with a welcome mat in front of it.
Good point and it would have likely only been done in controlled air space however it only takes one leak or one very determined enemy nation with there own electronic warfare observation suit to intercept it so it is still an idiotic cost cutting measure that may cost the lives of young US air force personnel in the future.
Remember the original NASA missions - after Apollo 1 which I think was deliberate - every nut and bolt, gasket and tank, every equation (Done by people not computers for the most part) was triple checked and then checked again by professional dedicated intelligent highly qualified men and woman, that is how to do safety but even there cost cutting meant that NASA cut back eventually and because of both that and obvious human fatigue the challenger disaster was the outcome, lives were lost because of that completely preventable lapse in safety standards no matter how they white wash it.
Given that analogy and yes military personnel are expected to die on occasion in the name of the greater good BUT a nation or any military or agency is still responsible for there well being, putting there lives and indeed the lives of civilians on the ground at risk no matter how low that threat is perceived to be (it is not low at all but a medium level threat - far too many potential weak link's in that chain both personnel and technological) is like giving an enemy a free victory and is a betrayal of the trust of the nation, it's service personnel and there tax money.
In an emergency scenario were it is not used commonly fine, in a routine fashion it should never become standard practice that is not just asking for trouble it is actively inviting it and leaving the door open with a welcome mat in front of it.
edit on 14-10-2020 by LABTECH767 because: (no reason given)
Update's On the Fly is the new normal .
Funny ( stupid But funny .
Funny ( stupid But funny .