The F-35 Can’t Seem to Stop Making News

Following the crash landing of an F-35B near Lockheed Martin’sLMT
assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas two weeks ago, the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) has grounded a number of F-35s including foreign aircraft until at least January. The latest grounding comes less than six months after the Air Force temporarily grounded its F-35A fleet this past summer.

The JPO made a statement to Defense News yesterday confirming the grounding in which it also revealed that the guidance applies to all three variants (F-35A/B/C) of the fighter. The Office declined to say how many aircraft are affected but a report by The Times of Israel indicates that many F-35s may be affected. On Christmas day the paper relayed the news that the Israeli Air Force announced that 11 of its F-35Is (an Israeli-specific version of the F-35A) have been grounded.

While a “preliminary assessment of the risk” stemming from the F-35B accident in Fort Worth spurred the JPO’s vaguely defined grounding, the problem may be related to a tube used to transfer high pressure fuel to the airplane’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine according to an anonymous source cited by Defense News.

For its part, the JPO only stated that; “The F-35 Joint Program Office has issued a Time Compliance Technical Directive [TCTD] to restrict some aircraft, which have been evaluated to be of higher risk, from flight operations while the investigation into the mishap on December 15 continues and until procedures can be developed for their return to flight. The affected aircraft have been identified, and the JPO will work with the [U.S. military] services and [international] partners to ensure compliance with the TCTD.”

The anonymous source also reported that the Program Office has told the USAF, USN and USMCUSMC
that F-35s with fewer than 40 flight hours are affected by the grounding. This would potentially align with whatever issue was discovered with the F-35B that suffered a loss of control and/or thrust during its pre-acceptance functional test flight on December 15. It may suggest a minor recent design change across the F-35 fleet affecting new-build aircraft.

Not surprisingly, Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney have refrained from public comment, citing the continuing investigation as reason for their silence. The grounding comes as a number of behind-the-scenes issues face the F-35 from a decision on whether to fund an alternative advanced engine for upcoming improved Block 4 versions of the jet to questions about production capacity in light of Lockheed’s recent sales success in Europe grind on.

The degree to which the grounding affects F-35 operations here and abroad could have knock-on effects for both a future engine choice and any resulting delays in production owing to quality control issues or subsystem design flaws. The latest grounding is also part of what could be argued is a well-worn pattern for the fleet which has seen numerous operational flight pauses in its near decade of use with the Services.

These have been related to incidents with the airplane’s propulsion and thermal management systems, its onboard oxygen system, its custom helmet-mounted display, even its susceptibility to lighting strikes.

Moreover, in February 2022 36 F-35As were grounded simply due to lack of operable engines, a number that has increased year over year since 2020 according to the General Accounting Office which concluded that the extended time it takes to repair the complex F135 means the Pentagon lacks enough spare engines.

The latest data on the number of jets grounded by inoperable engines isn’t readily available though it’s a question worth asking again. And even if the grounding announced yesterday is resolved early next week, F-35 followers will predictably be on the lookout for the next one.