The F-35, a fighter jet recently deemed “ready for combat” but which has also become a symbol of a bloated Pentagon budget, is in trouble again. The US Air Force is grounding 13 of the warplanes and pausing production of 42 more, blaming “improper manufacturing processes.”
For being part of a $1.12 trillion project, the US military’s costliest weapons program ever, the stealthy Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II might be expected to be presented as one tough cookie. But this cookie is crumbling, specifically from the inside, where poorly built insulation material is “crumbling” into fuel tanks, according to a statement from the US Air Force, Reuters reported.
Problems with material breaking off into fuel tank cooling lines “was discovered during depot modification of an F-35A and affects a total of 57 aircraft,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said Friday. – READ MORE
