Scheduled maintenance for the F-35's engine in the mid-2020s will drive up the price of engine sustainment, just as the Pentagon expects cost reduction goals come to fruition.
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It’s been a while since we checked in on our old friend, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a.k.a. The Flying Swiss Army knife, a.k.a. The Money Pit in the Sky. This undying tribute to what Barney Frank used to call “military Keynesianism” continues to amaze and astound in its ability to do everything except be a proper airplane. From
Speaking before the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Darlene Costello said 41 of the fifth-generation fighters don’t have an engine due to maintenance issues, while 56 F135 power modules are currently being repaired at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. .
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The Pentagon says a slowdown in the delivery of F-35 fighter jet engines could sideline scores of Air Force F-35As by 2025.
These problems have forced the Air Force to reduce appearances by the service’s F-35 air show team.
The U.S. Air Force’s F-35 fighter fleet is running into yet another problem: a shortage of engines.
Five years after declaring the F-35 ready for combat, the Air Force is discovering the aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine takes longer to maintain than originally projected. A heat-related issue is also causing cracks in the F135’s fan blade coatings. If left unchecked, the problem could reportedly ground up to 20 percent of the Air Force’s F-35s by 2025.
Israeli Committee Approves Procurement of F-35 Jets, KC-46 Refueling Aircraft
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Israel s Channel 12 reported earlier this month that Washington set a two-week deadline for the anticipated $2.74 billion US-Israel arms deal. Failure to reach an agreement would have resulted in Jerusalem losing priority in American assembly lines.
An Israeli official confirmed Tuesday that the ministerial committee for military acquisitions has approved a contentious new arms deal that includes a new squadron of US-made F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, KC-46 aerial refueling and strategic military transport aircraft by Boeing, and various advanced missiles and bombs.
An engine shortage is the newest problem to hit the F-35 enterprise February 12
Members of the 380th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Air Terminal Operations Center wheel an F-35A Lightning II engine out of a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, August 26, 2020, at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates. (Tech. Sgt. Charles Taylor/U.S. Air Force)
Correction 2/12/2021 at 6:23 p.m. EST: In an earlier version of the story, a defense official gave an erroneous target for power module production. The story has been revised with the correct number. WASHINGTON The F-35 joint strike fighter program is grappling with a shortage of the jet’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, and it could be months before the situation starts to improve, a defense official said Friday.