US Air Force grounds F-35 fighter jets

Engineers with the Joint Program Office and Lockheed, along with Hill Air Force Base maintenance airmen, have conducted “inspections of eight aircraft and are now developing procedures to resolve or mitigate the issue prior to release of affected production aircraft to the field and the return of affected operational aircraft to flight operations”, Stefanek said.

“The Air Force is also working with units to mitigate the impact on operations, training, and readiness”, Stefanek said. Forty-four days later, those planes have been grounded in the latest embarrassing setback for the most expensive project in Pentagon history.

The Israeli version of the F-35 “Adir” had its first test flight at the Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas on July 26.

The U.S. Air Force has suspended flight operations of 15 Lockheed Martin F-35A fighters to fix insulating material around an avionics cooling line in a fuel tank, the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) announced on September 16.

“The root cause of the problem was determined to be use of nonconforming material for the tubing insulation and improper manufacturing processes during fabrication of the cooling lines”, the F-35 program office said in a statement. Lockheed says the supply chain issue should not affect negotiations with the USAF or Norway.

Air Force personnel conducting routine maintenance discovered the problem, which affects 57 aircraft – including 42 in production in Fort Worth, Texas. “The F-35 program has a proven track record of solving issues as they arise, and we’re confident we’ll continue to do so”.

“Identifying and addressing issues is a standard part of the lifecycle of any of our aircraft”.

Two of the grounded aircraft belong to Norway, the Air Force said.

Noteworthy, the issue does not involve all the CTOL (Conventional Take Off and Landing) examples but 13 U.S. Air Force and 2 Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35As.

Representatives from the Air Force and Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program told CNN that the defective cooling lines were not found in all the aircraft.

“We have been very pleased with our aircraft so far, both in terms of performance and technical capabilities” says the release that goes ahead with more information about the problem: “This is not a design flaw, but is instead caused by a supplier using improper materials and improper sealing techniques for these specific parts”.

Stefanek said engineers are “currently developing procedures to resolve or mitigate the issue”.