uh... is it just me or is this statement just a bit a bit too hard to believe ?
F-35 pre-design flight test.
Posted on 06/27/2014 7:50:33 PM PDT by lbryce
America’s $400 Billion Stealth Jet Fleet Is Grounded Plagued by delays and cost overruns that turned it into the most expensive weapons program in history, the F-35 program is on hold after a fire nearly destroyed a plane. The U.S. Air Force has grounded its fleet of stealthy Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) after one aircraft caught fire on takeoff Monday at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. While the pilot got out of the stricken jet without injury, the roughly $200 million machine could be a total loss.
“The airplane aborted during takeoff due to a fire in the rear of the aircraft, the pilot egressed safely without injury, and the fire was extinguished,” Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Natasha Waggoner told The Daily Beast.
Monday’s fire is one of the most serious incidents suffered by the long-troubled and expensive F-35 program, and it could be the first time an aircraft has been lost.
The jet was originally conceived in the 1990s as a relatively low-cost way to replace the Pentagon’s myriad fleet of ageing fighters with a single common design. The Pentagon hopes to buy 2,443 of the jets to replace everything from A-10 Warthog ground-attack planes, to multirole F-16 and F/A-18 fighters, to the AV-8B Harrier jump jet. There are three versions of the F-35: one version designed for flying from normal land bases, another to fly off aircraft carriers, and another that can land vertically.
But the JSF program has been plagued with repeated delays and numerous technical problems over it is 12-year history. Many of the problems stem from the fact that the Pentagon decided to design, built, test and fly the F-35 all at the same time rather than sequentially like a normal program.
The F-35 was originally intended to be operational with
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
“As a precautionary measure, the Air Force has decided to temporarily suspend all F-35A operations until it is determined that flights can resume safely,” Waggoner said, noting that such practice is common in aviation. “It ensures the safety of our crews and our aircraft so we can determine there is no fleet-wide issue that needs to be addressed."
The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), which manages the roughly $400 billion Joint Strike Fighter program for Air Force, Navy and Marines, does not consider the F-35 to be formally grounded however. “No F-35s have been grounded. Air worthiness authorities did not direct a fleet stand down,” said Kyra Hawn, a spokeswoman for the F-35 program office in an emailed statement. “We expect flights to resume in the coming week.”
The fact that the F-35 JPO has not directed the F-35 fleet be formally grounded suggests that the fire might be traceable to a one-off failure rather than a fundamental design defect.
The F-35 JPO could provide no additional information on what caused the F-35 to catch on fire. Nor would they confirm the extent of the damage to the jet. “We will not speculate on cause of the fire while the investigation is underway,” Hawn said.
The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, which also fly their own versions of the F-35, have not suspended their flying operations.
There are currently 104 F-35 in the Pentagon’s arsenal — split between Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps variants, according to Lockheed.
The F-22 (which Obama cancelled) was a superior air to air combat plane. So was the Super Hornet. Once those cleared the skies, flying busses could take care of ground duty.
What a waste of money and resources...
For crying out loud just buy some F-15s.
Well, that was the plan, but the requirements just kept creeping ...
I was reading that they intentionally leak fuel while they're on the ground. It's part of the aircraft design.
One word ... “Obama” ...
Is that like the way Harleys mark their spot with oil?
Darn, someone always beats me to it. My thoughts EXACTLY
IMO, the United States Air Force needs the following combat force:
100 B2 Spirit Bombers For strategic, Precision bombing
500 F22 Lightning Air Superiority Fighters to clear and hold the sky over contested areas.
500 F16 Fighting Falcon Multi-Role Fighter Bombers for light bombing, precision ground attack and air combat.
500 A10 Warthog Ground Attack Aircraft for ground support of land forces.
The incredible shrinking president. Started little, and made America littler.
uh... is it just me or is this statement just a bit a bit too hard to believe ?
F-35 pre-design flight test.
Thank you. It was a rhetorical question.
Are they using that biodiesel fuel?
I said, "Whoa, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves ..."
“For crying out loud just buy some F-15s.”
The fleet that exists now is constantly being upgraded, I’m baffled as to why we don’t just procure some of the newer models like the SJ. I’d like to see what the cost of upgrade, plus constant maintenance on the C,D,&E models is in comparison to procuring new aircraft and phasing out, or mothballing old ones.
And the picture at the link is of an F-22.
Sorry, we can blame Obama for a lot of things, but the military is uniquely qualified in its ability to flush massive amounts of money down the toilet. This predates Obama, and will go on long after he’s gone.
The P-38 will always be my favorite plane.
As a small kid in a concentration camp I looked up and wondered why the two pilots had to sit so far from each other.
Active Duty ping.
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.