An innovation team at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center tasked with producing technology for the B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber has established a new software factory to bring enhancements to the long-range aircraft fleet.
The Spirit Realm B-2 Software Factory, conceived by the B-2 Software Maintenance and Innovation Team in partnership with Northrop Grumman, aims to reduce flight test risks and timelines, cut back on flight test burdens, increase integrated functional capability quality and enable upgrades to the B-2 Spirit, the Air Force Global Strike Command said Wednesday.
The software factory utilizes the Department of Defense’s DevSecOps reference design to guide the creation and testing of the B-2 software.
“After the development and implementation of the Spirit Realm, B-2 software is now developed, tested and integrated using modern DevSecOps and Scaled Agile principles and a single software baseline,” shared Capt. Joel Graley, the lead for the B-2 Software Maintenance and Innovation Team.
“This approach enables the fielding of the highest priority capabilities at an unprecedented pace, and ensures the B-2 can rapidly field new capabilities to counter emerging threats,” Graley continued.
Due to the introduction of the new facility, the Air Force reported software upgrade timelines were cut from 24 months to three months and the number of software defects found during regression testing were totally eradicated.
