HealthCare.gov 2.0? Reports allege software 'glitch' preventing F-35 from using its gun until 2019

It’s just a glitch, people. We’re sure the Pentagon has top men on this as we speak:

F35 'stealth jet' will not be able to fire its guns until 2019 http://t.co/t1nPGHpuA0

— Telegraph World News (@TelegraphWorld) December 31, 2014

Best fighter jet, oh yeah: F35 can't fire its gun, carries almost no ammo! http://t.co/QBul9wNVd9 pic.twitter.com/3AKY5p5HXR”

— Claude Denis (@Claude6006) December 31, 2014

F-35's Latest Glitch: Fighter Jet Can't Fire A Gun http://t.co/plzIzo3G2Z

— Investors.com (@IBDinvestors) December 31, 2014

Here’s an excerpt from The Daily Beast report:

“There will be no gun until [the Joint Strike Fighter’s Block] 3F [software], there is no software to support it now or for the next four-ish years,” said one Air Force official affiliated with the F-35 program. “Block 3F is slated for release in 2019, but who knows how much that will slip?”

[…]

Another Air Force official familiar with the F-35 confirmed that the jet won’t have the software to fire its gun until the Block 3F software is released to frontline squadrons sometime in 2019. Neither Lockheed nor the F-35 Joint Program Office responded to inquiries about the status of the jet’s gun.

Kind of a big deal to be called a “glitch,” no? The jet’s cannon is important as one of the F-35’s roles is close air support and guns are preferable to bombs or missiles in many of these situations.

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