Posted on 07/08/2020 12:56:35 PM PDT by Red Badger
A key F-35 safety system is sustaining damage in Air Force service, forcing the office that overseas the F-35 program to recommend flight restrictions.
Under the new guidelines, F-35 jets should socially distance from lightning, maintaining a distance of least 25 miles.
The faulty systems could cause a F-35 hit by lightning to literally explode in midair.
=================================================================================================
The F-35 Lightning II strike fighter is temporarily barred from flying near actual lightning. More than a dozen Air Force F-35s were discovered with damage to a system designed to prevent catastrophic damage from lightning strikes. The damaged systems place the aircraft in danger of exploding if the airplane were hit by lightning in mid-flight.
The problem is with the Onboard Inert Gas Generation System (OBIGGS)is a safety subsystem common in modern airplanes. A typical OBIGGS system diverts air from the aircraft engine and separates the nitrogen, injecting it into the jet’s fuel tanks. The more inflammable nitrogen present the less flammable oxygen, helping reduce the possibility of fuel tank explosions. Wartime damage aside, one way a fuel tank explosion might take place is as a result of a lightning strike.
Inspectors at the Air Force’s Ogden Logistics Complex discovered damage to the tubes that funnel nitrogen into the fuel tanks in 14 out of 24 out of F-35As inspected. The problem appears limited to the Air Force’s F-35A model. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, which operate the -C and -B versions of the F-35, have not seen similar problems.
According to Defense News, manufacturer Lockheed Martin paused F-35 deliveries to look into the issue with aircraft on the production line. The company believes that the problem is being caused “in the field after aircraft delivery” meaning while in the hands of the Air Force. There are no reports as of yet in the hands of foreign F-35 operators, though that sample size might still be pretty small so far. Air Force Magazine’s 2020 almanac lists the Air Force and Air Force Reserve as currently operating 203 Lightning II fighters, the most of any air force worldwide.
For now, the F-35 Joint Program Office, which overseas the global F-35 enterprise, is recommending that F-35As avoid lightning and thunderstorms. The jets should maintain a distance of 25 miles from either type of weather, until the source of the problem is found and a fix is implemented.
Ironically, this is the second time the Lightning II has been prohibited from flying near actual lightning, after an earlier problem was discovered with the OBIGGS in the early 2010s.
Source: Defense News.
This (sometimes) flying scrapheap is a huge warning about what happens when you go all-in on design-by-committee. Some genius decided one plane could do everything for every branch of the US military and do so cheaper and better. What we got instead was a massively expensive Mr. Potato Head with wings.
I’d put 1 F-22 up against 10 F-35s any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Why? It’s purpose-built for doing one job better than anything else ever constructed by mankind. It’s decades beyond any technology anyone else has. You make something like that and you can count on it for a long time. The A-10 still does its job better than anything else too.
A lightning strike would be more likely to fry sensitive electronics and flight control systems (a serious danger on an aerodynamically unstable aircraft). Bad stuff would happen far short of a fuel tank explosion. Sheesh!
The F35 is a real example of propaganda over reality. It has to “succeed” no matter what the cost in dollars and dead pilots.
Now that's the irony of ironies!
Author Kyle Mizokami wrote "Ironically, this is the second time the Lightning II has been prohibited from flying near actual lightning, after an earlier problem was discovered with the OBIGGS in the early 2010s."
No, Kyle, that is not ironic. That is coincidental. I'm surprised Kyle didn't work a "literally" into his story.
The A 10 is so ugly its Beautiful
Yeah. I get all my accurate information from POS Popular Mechanics.
Used to love it years ago. It is woke now. On board with all things Leftist including Global Warming and other fake science.
*** I’d put 1 F-22 up against 10 F-35s any day of the week and twice on Sunday. ***
I wouldn’t. I think it’s best that we face the fact that the F-22 will go bye-bye within 20 years because there aren’t enough of them to affordably upgrade and it would cost more to re-start the line than design a new aircraft. And if they opt to design a new stealth fighter from the ground up — it will be based more on the F-35 tech than the older F-22.
The F-22 is an amazing bird though.
Ah, popular mechanix, those tech experts again.
But, but, they have great info on all those already deployed particle beams and rail guns.....
The only reason the F-22 cost as much as it did was because the production line was insanely spread out.
“over 1,000 subcontractors and suppliers from 46 states and up to 95,000 jobs, and spanned 15 years at a peak rate of roughly two airplanes per month”
That’s insane. Fix that, things get cheaper quick.
Sigh.
I really used to enjoy reading them back in the Sixties and Seventies, but last time I read one, they were talking about global warming and men’s nail care and beard maintenance products.
I couldn’t believe it.
A victim of 1960s+ progressive education.
“In” was dropped from “flammable” because of the educational decline back then.
“...F-35 jets should socially distance from lightning...”
Seriously?
“Some genius decided one plane could do everything for every branch ...”
‘zactly!
A V/STOL F-35, how asinine is that ?
“those in the aircraft field have decided long ago it was a hoax covering up the numerous eye witness accounts of a missile” YEP!
Imagine what an EMP would do to it.
I hope the ejection process is analog.
Oh I get the science. I used to be a firefighter.
I am just commenting on the “journalistic malfeasance.
It's mechanical linkage.
Should have just stayed with the F-22!!!
Oxygen is not flammable. It is an oxidizer supporting combustion of something that IS flammable.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.