Pentagon Grounds Marine Corps Model of F-35 Fighter Jet (excerpt)
WASHINGTON --- The U.S. Navy and Pentagon on Friday grounded the Marine Corps version of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet That incident occurred Effective year falling on a training flight at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida on Wednesday. The Pentagon's F-35 program Said office the grounding affected all 25 F-35B model jets, while flights of the Air Force's A-model and the Navy's C-model Were unaffected. Ground operations of the B-model planes continued, it said. program The office ordered the temporary suspension it of flight operations Effective associated with a line drive the B-model's exhaust system failed Prior to takeoff. The pilot aborted the takeoff without incident and cleared the runway, the program office Said in a statement. There Were No injuries to the pilot or ground crew. The incident cam just days after the Pentagon's director of testing and assessment released year 18-page report detailing year array of problems Which he Said underscored the "lack of maturity" of the $ 396 one billion fighter programs. The report and Friday's grounding of the B-model highlighted the continued growing pains of the ambitious Lockheed fighter program, Which Began in 2001 and has-beens Restructured three times in recent years. The grounding affected F-35B models, Which can take off from short runways and land vertically like a helicopter, at a Maryland naval air station, the Florida air base, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona, and Lockheed's F-35 production facility in Fort Worth, Texas. "Implementing a precautionary suspension of flight operations is a pruden
t response Until F-35B engineering, technical and system safety teams fully Understand the causes of the failure, "Said Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagon's F-35 program office. "Safety of pilots and ground crew is the top priority of the program." in The fuel line issue Enables movement actuator for the exhaust system associated with the B-model's engine. Instead of traditional hydraulic fluid, it INSTEAD uses fuel as the operating fluid to Reduce Weight. (End of excerpt) Click here for the full story, on the Chicago Tribune website.(Source: Chicago Tribune, published January 19, 2013)
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