US grounds several F-35s following crash in Texas: Pentagon
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The US will reportedly work with military services and international partners to resolve any concerns that may arise.
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A Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft is seen at the ILA Air Show in Berlin. (Reuters)
The Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office spokesperson said as quoted by Sputnik that the US grounded many F-35 fighter jets due to concerns raised by an accident with the aircraft on the runway at a military base in Texas earlier in December.
"The F-35 Joint Program Office has issued a Time Compliance Technical Directive (TCTD) to recommend restrictions on a small number of aircraft, which have been evaluated to be of higher risk, from flight operations, and until procedures can be developed for their return to flight," the spokesperson said on Friday.
In further detail, the affected F-35 aircraft have been identified, and the US will work with military services and international partners to resolve any concerns that may arise, according to media reports.
On December 25, the Israeli occupation Air Force said it will ground 11 F-35 fighter jets.
The decision came after an F-35 type B belonging to the United States Air Force crashed earlier this month in Texas.
The Israeli occupation military noted that this decision comes following data collected from the Texas crash that might indicate a malfunction in the fighter jet, which "Israel" will inspect to find out if its F-35 fleet is also similarly flawed.
Not an isolated incident
Earlier this month, a fifth-generation US F-35B fighter plane crashed during a test flight at a Texas facility. The pilot ejected from the plane and was not seriously injured.
This is not the first-ever crash involving the F-35C stealth fighter plane. On January 24, a US Navy F35C Lightning II combat jet, which was conducting exercises in the South China Sea, crashed in an attempt to land on the US craft carrier's deck.
On November 17, 2021, an F35 fighter from the biggest British aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea during a routine flight over the sea.
The US Pentagon has lately approved the resumption of deliveries of F-35 fighter jets after there was a temporary pause, due to it being discovered that a component of the aircraft was sourced in China.
The Pentagon has lately suspended its deliveries of new F-35 fighter jets after learning that a magnet in the jet's engine was made in China using unauthorized material.
According to Politico, Pentagon notified Congress earlier that it had decided not to replace the component built into aircraft that have already been delivered to customers.
F-35As, were rated as "operationally unready" 234 times over a year and a half since January 2021 in South Korea due to malfunctions, a South Korean lawmaker said.
The multi-billion project's future is looking quite grim, with grounded fifth-generation fighters only being able to carry out missions for 12 days on average in 2021 and 11 days in the first half of 2022.
Read next: F-35 defects put Israeli air force in dilemma: Israeli media
The United States Air Force in late July even went as far as grounding its F-35A jet fleet, citing a potentially faulty component in the ejection seat that could endanger pilots in an emergency, a concern that has also grounded other types of military planes used for training.
The F-35 is considered the most expensive military equipment ever built, with a total cost of $412 billion in 2021, up from $398 billion in 2022, according to a Department of Defense report in September 2022.
