Month: June 2018

Enlarge / An F-35B Lightning II aircraft piloted by Maj. Jesse Peppers taxis toward the runway aboard Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, April 11. Keeping the F-35B flying, just as with the Air Force and Navy's F-35 fighters, is shaping up to be a waiting game because of a slow channel for repair parts. (credit: US Marine Corps)

The Marine Corps' F-35B fighters are among the oldest operating aircraft to come out of the Joint Strike Fighter program, and they're beginning to run into some maintenance issues. While many of the repairs being made to the aircraft are upgrades to bring them in line with the latest software releases and accompanying hardware upgrades, a fair share is for typical aircraft maintenance issues—and those issues are leading to an increasing number of aircraft left grounded waiting for parts.

As Defense News' Valerie Insinna reports, that's often because the wait time for delivery on some parts is a month or longer. And according to a GAO report, the lead time for some F-35 replacement parts could be two years or longer. Between waiting for parts and time spent offline for upgrades, F-35s worldwide were unable to fly 22 percent of the time between January and August of 2017. The GAO report, published last October, warned of "sustainment challenges" faced by the F-35 program—many of them because of poor planning and delays in bringing repair parts suppliers and depots onboard.

If anything major goes wrong with an F-35, it could spend a lot more time waiting to be repaired. "DOD does not have enough capacity to repair F-35 aircraft parts because the establishment of repair capabilities at the military depots is six years behind schedule," the GAO report stated. "Repair capabilities at the military depots were originally planned to be completed by 2016, but program officials told us that some capabilities have now been delayed until 2022."

Enlarge / macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 in the Mac App Store. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Today, Apple released the latest update for macOS. High Sierra 10.13.5 primarily adds Messages in iCloud support, but it also includes some enterprise and security updates. Users of supported Macs can download and install it from the Mac App Store now.

Messages in iCloud has been in the works for a long time, and it has appeared and disappeared from various beta releases of Apple software. It was added in iOS 11.4 earlier this week, and now it's supported on Macs. The feature allows you to store communications you receive and send within the Messages app—plus associated file attachments—in iCloud to save space on your local device. It also means that changes like deleting messages are propagated across devices, and a new Mac that is logged into your iCloud account will immediately have access to your Messages history.

Note that this feature will require you to have some free storage in iCloud, as that service comes with a fee that scales based on the amount of storage you choose.

Enlarge / FCA boss Sergio Marchionne stands next to one of our favorite four-wheelers, the Alfa Romeo Giulia. (credit: Stefano Montesi/Corbis via Getty Images)

On Friday, at its test track in Balocco, Italy, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles revealed its bold new plan for the future. The past few weeks have seen plenty of speculation about the automaker's future and whether or not it was going to kill off storied brands like Dodge or Fiat. But as expected, the announcements mainly focused on four of the names in FCA's portfolio: Jeep, Ram, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo, each of which has big things in store. CEO Sergio Marchionne also revealed that the company is going to invest $10.5 billion (€9 billion) on electrification between now and 2022, phasing out all of its passenger vehicle diesel engines along the way.

Jeep is arguably FCA's crown jewel now that it has spun off Ferrari, and the company wants to launch a bevy of new models in the next few years. These will hit each of the different size segments in the SUV and crossover classes, from a crossover smaller than the soon-to-be-revised Renegade all the way up to a new Wagoneer or Grand Wagoneer. By 2022, Jeep should also have ten plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) and four battery EVs (BEVs) on sale. Some of these will be focused more on life in an urban environment, but, from the sounds of it, Jeep is not prepared to compromise its off-road chops just because it's adding some electric motors.

Next up is Ram, the vehicles formerly known as Dodge trucks. FCA wants Ram to occupy the number-two position for commercial vehicles in North America by 2022, which might just happen given the brand's growth in the past few years. The five-year plan calls for a new midsize truck to fit in between the light and heavy-duty versions, as well as replacements for the Promaster City and Promaster vans. Expect a hybrid powertrain option for the light-duty truck but probably no BEV truck. Oh, and that Ram TRX concept I liked so much has been greenlit for production. A performance truck to rival the Ford Raptor, it hits the streets (and dunes) in 2022.

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

At 10am PDT (1pm EDT, 5pm GMT) on Monday, June 4, 2018, Apple will host its keynote to kick off the 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference. The company will outline its software plans for Macs, iPhones, iPads, and much more. Ars will of course be in attendance, and we'll share the updates with you as they happen in our WWDC 2018 liveblog.

Expect details from Apple about iOS 12, macOS 10.14, tvOS 12, and watchOS 5. This year, Apple plans to focus on performance and stability improvements over major new features or UI overhauls. iOS 12 will likely include more ways manage your usage of your digital device usage.

Not much is currently known about macOS 10.14—however, Apple is known to be working on a software development framework to bring macOS and iOS applications closer together. It could be discussed this year—or Apple could wait until next year's macOS release to talk about it.

Enlarge / "Can you hear me now?" (credit: 350z33)

In 2017, the Department of Homeland Security ran a trial program that used a series of cellular network sensors set up around Washington, DC and the surrounding region as part of an effort to get a handle on the usage of International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers nearby. Commercial IMSI catchers, such as Harris Corporation's Stingray, have been used by law enforcement as part of surveillance operations, and Secret Service and DHS officials have acknowledged that they use similar devices to help protect the President. But DHS was concerned there were other IMSI catchers out there being operated by someone not affiliated with US law enforcement—potentially as part of foreign intelligence operations targeting US officials or criminal operations.

Over an 11-month period, DHS found evidence that there was reason to be concerned. In March of this year, acting DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) undersecretary Christopher Krebs sent Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) a letter—along with answers to questions Wyden had posed as part of the confirmation process for Krebs to permanently assume his role as undersecretary—stating that the NPPD "believes the malicious use of IMSI catchers is a real and growing risk."

In the attached answers, Krebs noted that NPPD "has observed anomalous activity in the National Capital Region [NCR] that appears to be consistent with [IMSI] catchers." But Krebs said that DHS did not have a current capability for tracking IMSI catchers, and the department did not share how the "anomalous activity" was detected in the first place.

Enlarge (credit: Waymo)

Waymo announced on Thursday that it was ordering 62,000 Pacifica minivans from Fiat Chrysler. It's the latest sign that Alphabet's self-driving car company is operating on a different level from the rest of the industry.

The last few months have had a lot of bad news for fans of self-driving cars. Last December, after news that Volvo and Ford might not achieve ambitious early goals, Wired wrote that self-driving cars were entering a "trough of disillusionment." Events over the last six months have only deepened that trough.

In March, an Uber self-driving car struck and killed pedestrian Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona, forcing Uber to suspend its testing program indefinitely. In May, the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report finding big problems with Uber's software.