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NORTH CHARLESTON – An investigation is underway to determine what prompted a pilot to eject from a military jet Sept. 17 near North Charleston and to locate the aircraft. Joint Base Charleston said its working with local emergency responders to determine what it described as a “mishap” involving a Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort F-35B Lightning II fighter jet. The pilot, after safely ejecting, was picked up near South Kenwood Drive and transported to a local medical center. He is in stable condition, according to a news release from the Joint Base Charleston. A second aircraft was able to return...

First reported here (twice), complete with video, when it happened last December at NAS JRB Fort Worth. The mishap was remarkable because the pilot ejected while the a/c was on the ground. The news reports that followed all spoke to the engine as the cause -- which would seem to indicate that neither the pilot nor other aspects of the aircraft were under suspicion -- and DoD ordered engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney to stop delivering new engines for the F-35B until the problem was sorted.Last Friday, a news source that may not be quoted here for copyright reasons reported...

About three weeks ago we had a discussion here about an F-35B stealth fighter that had a mishap on landing at Fort Worth Naval Air Station. It was being flown by a USMC pilot but he was performing pre-delivery evaluation flights for Lockheed Martin. Now the military has halted deliveries on F-35B engines pending further investigation (which is a pretty good indication the pilot was exonerated). The source article is at Defense News -dot- Com (under heading "Air Warfare"), which I apparently am forbidden to post from. So look it up if you're a mind to. It was at the...

A jet reportedly crashed in White Settlement Thursday morning, police say. The White Settlement Police Department told WFAA that emergency crews responded to the scene around 10:15 a.m. near the Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base. Police confirmed the pilot of the aircraft ejected. His or her condition is unknown at this time. Police said officers have been asked to help close streets near the incident. In a statement to WFAA, Lockheed Martin said an investigation is underway. "We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort...

Japan is back in the business of operating a fixed-wing aircraft carrier, with the first embarkation of short takeoff and vertical-landing F-35B stealth jets from the U.S. Marine Corps on the modified helicopter carrier Izumo. It is the first instance of the country operating fixed-wing aircraft from ships since the end of World War II. The trials are set to kickstart a new era for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, or JMSDF, which has long harbored ambitions to adapt its two 24,000-ton Izumo class helicopter carriers for fixed-wing operations. The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced today that the Marine Corps...

Seoul, South Korea (CNN)South Korea plans to start building its first aircraft carrier next year, and acquire fighter jets to operate on it, the country's Defense Ministry has announced. Last year, South Korea hinted at its interest in an aircraft carrier, saying it would build a "multi-purpose large transport vessel." But in its national plan for 2021-2025, published this week, the government for the first time explicitly committed to building the billion-dollar equipment. "The 30,000-ton level aircraft carrier can transport military forces, equipment and materials and can operate fighter jets that are capable of vertical take-off and landing," said...

Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour on July 20 entered a dry dock at the Taranto navy yard to receive upgrades that will allow it to operate F-35B jets. The 244-meter Cavour is currently undergoing an extensive overhaul after ten years of service. All works on the ship are expected to be completed by the spring of 2020, when the ship’s crew is set to start training for a summer deployment to the US East Coast and shipboard trials with the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. In addition to the F-35A version, Italy...

An F-35B Lightning II is launched from USS Wasp. (Image credit: U.S. Navy) F-35B Lightning II aircraft, attached to the F-35B detachment of the “Flying Tigers” of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 (Reinforced), are currently in the Indo-Pacific region deployed aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). Wasp, flagship of Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), is operating in the region “to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force for any type of contingency.” F-35B flying in “Third Day of War” configuration. (Image credit: U.S. Marine Corps). Images being...

A British test pilot has made history by performing a ‘rolling landing’ with an F-35 stealth fighter onto the deck of an aircraft carrier Peter 'Wizzer Wilson', a BAE Systems test pilot, put the £120m aircraft down on HMS Queen Elizabeth without using its vertical landing system or a ‘tailhook’. Despite blustery conditions, he performed a more conventional short landing in a world first. The new landing technique means that the cutting-edge jet will now not have to jettison fuel or expensive weapons into the sea before it touches down on the aircraft carrier after a mission. The Royal Navy...

What a crazy week it has been for the F-35 program and the F-35B in particular. In the space of just a few days, the type racked up its first U.S. combat mission, its first operations aboard the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, and its first total loss crash and pilot ejection. It was definitely a mixed bag, but as I noted to readers on Friday, the F-35 program can only be incredibly proud of its safety record. Sure there have been plenty of close calls, but going through nearly 12 years of tortured developmental and operational...

A US F-35 pilot was forced to eject midair after the $100million fighter jet crashed in South Carolina. The aircraft was completely destroyed in the crash during a training exercise Friday, officials said. The crash appears to be the first of its kind for the troubled F-35 program, marking an unfortunate moment for the most expensive plane in history. Speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement, a defense official told AFP that the Marine Corps F-35 had crashed outside Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina.

The US military announced on Thursday that its F-35B stealth fighter jet had carried out its first combat operation, with a strike mission against Taliban targets in Afghanistan. The fighters were launched by the US Marines from an amphibious assault ship at sea. The F-35B is one of three variants of the F-35 fighter programme, which is the largest and most expensive weapons programme in US history. Last year, the US government revised the F-35 programme's total cost estimate to nearly $406 billion, after it briefly declined to less than $380 billion. The programme has seen significant criticism over its...

HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived back in Portsmouth following successful First of Class rotary wing trials in the Atlantic. Royal Navy Photo LONDON – Earlier this month, Britain’s national security adviser declared that the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers would be unlikely to ever deploy on high-end combat missions without support from friendly forces. The two new flattops would “inevitably be used in a context of allied operations of some kind, if used in a contested environment”, Mark Sedwill told the House of Commons’ Defence Committee on May 1. The London press suggested that the U.K. government would be...

Back in November 2010, then-Lt Cdr James Blackmore became the last pilot of a BAE Systems Harrier to launch from the flightdeck of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, bringing to an end three decades of shipborne short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) operations from the service's three Invincible-class carriers. In a circuitous arc, now Cdr Blackmore will in five months oversee the re-birth of fixed-wing aviation in the RN, as HMS Queen Elizabeth – the first of its two new 65,000t aircraft carriers – begins first of class flying trials (FOCFT) with STOVL aircraft of an altogether...

Japanese Ministry of Defense executives have outright admitted that despite the Japanese government's past denials that the Izumo class "helicopter destroyers" were not designed to accommodate fixed-wing short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) tactical jets, they actually were designed with exactly that in mind. The Asahi Shimbun quoted Maritime Self Defense Force sources stating the following: “It is only reasonable to design (the Izumo) with the prospect of possible changes of the circumstances in the decades ahead... We viewed that whether the Izumo should be actually refitted could be decided by the government.” When the Izumo first entered service, the...

The government is considering operating F-35B fighter jets from about fiscal 2026, in an effort to utilize airports on remote islands and thereby improve the nation’s capability to defend the isles, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. Considered the most advanced stealth fighters, F-35Bs are currently operated by the U.S. military based in Japan. The Japanese government is also eyeing the operation of the fighters on Izumo, the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s largest-class destroyer and which Tokyo is considering remodeling into an aircraft carrier, according to government sources. The government has decided to introduce 42 F-35A fighter jets — which are capable...

In what could be seen as a change in Japan’s defense posture that has banned the possession of offensive aircraft carriers, the Defense Ministry is considering buying new fighter jets that may be put on its helicopter carriers, government sources said Sunday. The sources said the introduction of F-35Bs, which are capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings, will be useful to counter China’s growing maritime assertiveness. They are expected to bolster defenses of far-flung islands in the southwest, where only short runways exist, they said. The move, however, is likely to trigger a backlash from China and other neighboring...

Around noon on Oct. 4, 2017, a team of 12 U.S. Army Special Forces operators and 30 soldiers from the Nigerien Security and Intelligence Battalion were departing the village of Tongo Tongo, near the Nigerien-Malian border, when they were ambushed by roughly 50 insurgents from an “ISIS-affiliated group” riding in a dozen technicals—pickup trucks armed with heavy machine guns, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. According to an Oct. 23 briefing by the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, the U.S. military didn’t record the Green Berets requesting air support until an hour after the...

The countdown is now on for the return of UK Carrier Strike. TIM ROBINSON reports from BAE Systems Warton on the behind the scenes activity to make the Lockheed Martin F-35B ready for the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth class. In just over a year's time, one lucky UK test pilot is set to perform a historic flight - the first landing of a new fighter aircraft on a brand-new aircraft carrier - a double first that is a major milestone. "This is the SuperBowl of flight test - a once in a lifetime opportunity," enthuses RAF F-35B test pilot...

The Short Take-off Vertical Landing (STOVL) F-35B Lightning II test aircraft has performed maiden land based Ski Jump with on board UK specific weapons. The BF-2 aircraft piloted by Peter "Wizzer" Wilson performed the Ski Jump with Paveway IV LGB & MBDA ASRAAM short range air to air missile, from the Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland, United States. Four 500 lb Paveway IV laser guided bombs and two MBDA ASRAAM were integrated on external under wing pylons. Both of them can also carried in the internal weapon bay. This external weapon load out will be employed when payload...