Marine Corps F-35B Flights Suspended After a Part Fails

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-18/marine-corps-f-35b-flights-suspended-after-a-part-fails.html

Marine Corps F-35B Flights Suspended After a Part Fails
By Tony Capaccio - 2013-01-19T05:00:02Z

The Pentagon suspended flights of the F-35B, the Marine Corps model of its Joint Strike Fighter, after the failure of a propulsion-system part caused a pilot to abort a takeoff.

“We are assessing potential causes and evaluating actions to return” the Marine Corps version to flight, Pentagon spokesman Joe DellaVedova said yesterday in an e-mail.

The Marine Corps model, designed for short takeoffs and landings on carriers and amphibious-warfare vessels, is the most complex of three models being built in the Pentagon’s costliest program.

The failure was in the jet’s propulsion system, made by the Pratt & Whitney unit of Hartford, Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. (UTX) The incident occurred before takeoff on Jan. 16 at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.


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A 1/12/2013 report said:

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-12/business/36312239_1_cracks-f-35-annual-report

F-35 Marine model stress-testing halted after cracks discovered
By Tony Capaccio,January 12, 2013

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Durability testing on the most complicated version of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 was halted last month after “multiple” cracks were discovered in the fighter jet, according to the Pentagon’s testing office.

The previously undisclosed halt in high-stress ground testing involves the F-35B, the Marine Corp’s version that must withstand short takeoffs and landings on carriers and amphibious warfare vessels, according to an annual report on the F-35 that Defense Department testing chief Michael Gilmore sent to Congress yesterday. Flight testing wasn’t affected.

Development of the F-35, the Pentagon’s costliest weapons system, has been marked by delays and cost increases. The Pentagon estimates the total cost for development and production of 2,443 F-35s will be $395.7 billion, a 70 percent increase since the initial contract with Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin was signed in 2001.

Durability testing is intended to stress an airframe, assessing its capability to achieve a projected aircraft lifetime of 8,000 “equivalent flight hours.”

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