SW Development: Agile enters aviation?

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-auditor-gives-backstory-of-software-reform-on-f-447143/

Quoting:
"Instead of releasing large quantities of new software-cabled capacities in multi-year blocks, the F-22 programme carved up the development work into smaller slices of capabilities that could be delivered every 12-14 weeks, the audit says.

As each new software update is coded, developers perform integrated testing to tackle bugs in more manageable chunks. Rather than waiting until the end of a multi-year block development to begin integrated testing.

The F-22 programme called the new method the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), according to the IG. The approach was once limited limited to the F-22 programme, but the idea began to spread last year.

In September, Vice Adm Mat Winter, the F-35’s programme executive officer, said agile-based software development would be applied to future upgrades of the F-35 and the F-22. He did not mention that the F-35 was following the lead of the F-22, which the IG report reveals had started using the incremental method four years earlier."

The F-35 (software) saga

Talking about pressure to deliver? Read below:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/25/f35_software_block_3f_complete_end_2017_says_lockheed/

Quoting:
"Meanwhile, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation told a US Congress committee earlier this year that the aircraft won't be ready before 2019, mentioning 158 "Category 1" software flaws that could cause death, severe injury or illness unless fixed.

The USAF hit back at these reports, announcing in May that Block 3F would be ready by "September or October" this year. Block 4 is said to be already in development, in spite of the delays to Block 3F. New software "drops" will be rolled out about every two years, with Block 4 scheduled for the beginning of the 2020s."
(...)
"The paper also pegged the cost of each aircraft at around £198m, though post-publication commentary appeared to suggest that the newspaper had included the through-life costs of each aircraft (i.e. spare parts, software upgrades, fuel, etc). The majority of public cost estimates are done on an "upfront" basis and do not include projected spares packages and the like.

Delays and cost overruns have been a frequent feature of the F-35 saga. Given the sheer quantity of software in not only the aircraft but its ALIS logistics suite too, it should be no surprise that costs have spiralled and unforeseen delays reared their heads. After all, since when did any Big Government IT Project run on time and within budget?"

And more news on the F-35:

• https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/20/f35_oxygen_system_algorithm_tweak/
• https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/12/f35_alis_software_delayed/

(Updated: 2017-07-31, link fixed, add. links)