F-35 ground order lifted... Sort of.

Pentagon authorities are now fairly certain that the JSF is safe to fly. 

The cause of the F-35 fire on June 23rd is thought to be due to "excessive rubbing" of one of the turbine blades.  

While the F-35 may be cleared for flight, its expected appearance at Farnborough is still uncertain. Until the exact cause of the fire is determined, the JSF will fly under "operating restrictions". 

More news here:

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCAKBN0FK0O520140715

Published: By: Unknown - 4:03 AM

F-35 officially grounded again... Still?

Such a nice summer day, too...

A week ago, F-35 flights were suspended after an engine fire.  Today, the word is that the JSF fleet is now officially grounded.  This is no real surprise.  According to one witness “The engine ripped through the top of the plane”.  

The timing of this comes at a particularly precarious time in the JSF program.  European support for the F-35 is less than stellar at the moment.  It was hoped that the F-35's presence during the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) and the Farnborough Air Show this month would give JSF boosters something to be proud of.  

As it is, today's hoped for flyby during the HMS Queen Elizabeth's naming ceremony is off.  Instead, the part of the F-35 was played by a 50-year old de Havilland Sea Vixen.  Participation at RIAT (July 11th) is as good as cancelled, as the F-35's 36 hour turnaround time would require the grounding be lifted almost immediately.  Currently the best that could be hoped for is an appearance at the tail end of the Farnborough Air Show, which begins July 14th and runs until the 20th.  

This is clearly embarrassing for all those involved.  To get a clear picture of how embarrassing, the Pentagon's news release for this came at 9:03PM July 3rd, right before the July 4th long weekend.  Known as an "info dump", this practice attempts to bury bad news by releasing it at a time when people's attention are set on other things.

It is still unclear what caused the engine fire, or if it is related to the short-lived grounding in in June due to a faulty oil valve.   

All said this is very bad news for the Joint Strike Fighter program.  Almost 10 years behind schedule, billions over budget, and nowhere near the amount of expected orders; the JSF office desperately needs some good PR.  Instead, defense ministers are forced to stand beside fiberglass mock-ups instead of the real deal.  

Any excuse stating that the JSF is still early in its development is delusional.  There are currently more F-35s in existence then there are CF-18s in the RCAF.  The F-35's first flight was in 2006.  Back then, the Apple iPhone was yet to be released.  The Hummer H3 was declared "Truck of the Year".  George W. Bush was still president of the USA and Stephen Harper became Prime Minister of Canada.  

"I was crossing the Atlantic before it was cool."

Eight years, billions of dollars and almost 100 F-35s later, the Lightning II has still not demonstrated the ability to cross the Atlantic ocean.  This is feat first accomplished by Charles Lindbergh in the Spirit of Saint Louis back in 1927.  

Current plans are for the F-35B to achieve IOC (initial operating capability) with the USMC in late 2015.  That leaves slightly over a year to turn a plane that cannot cross the Atlantic because it spontaneously catches on fire into a world-class weapon system capable of engaging hostile threats.

Since the F-35's appearance in Britain this month is now very much in doubt, I'll use a popular British term to describe the JSF's current status:  OMNISHAMBLES. 

Published: By: Unknown - 8:23 AM

F-35 UPDATE UPDATE: NOT GROUNDED... SUSPENDED (Huh?)

It seems there have been some conflicting reports regarding the JSF's flight status.  Contrary to my previous post reporting that all Lightning IIs were still flying after a F-35A caught fire on take off, it turns out that JSF fleet has indeed been placed on the no-fly list.

The issue behind the confusion?  Wording.  Technically, the JSF has not been officially grounded, but F-35A and F-35B flights are now considered "suspended".  According to Breaking Defense:

 Readers who may be wondering why you haven’t seen the word grounded should know that grounding has a specific meaning for the military and these aircraft have not been grounded — yet. Grounded means the plane won’t fly until further notice or the specific conditions that led to the plane being banned from flight is found and fixed. So far they’re expecting to get the planes back in the sky as soon as they have some idea as to the fire’s cause.

Part of the ambiguity comes from the fact that the F-35 is a production aircraft.  As such a mishap like this would not lead to the automatic grounding of the entire fleet.  However, thanks to concurrency, nobody seems to be quite sure how to treat incidents like this.  It is not a prototype, yet it is not yet in operational service.

An investigation into the fire is said to start within the week and hopefully be completed within 60 to 90 days.  Airworthiness tests should be done within a month.

F-35B with 2 Typhoons (picture taken near Edwards AFB, California)

The pressure will be on.  Several F-35s are meant to make an appearance in the United Kingdom next month.  First, the F-35B is planned to make its trans-atlantic debut at the Royal International Air Tattoo from July 11th to the 13th.  Then, they are planned to appear July 14th to 20th at one of Europe's largest aerospace trade show, the Farnborough International Airshow.

Two weeks.  That is how long the JSF program office has to correct this little mishap in order to make it.  Not being able to show up due to unknown engine fire would be embarrassing to say the least, and  would do little to help the JSF's current unpopularity in Europe.

Should be an interesting couple of weeks. Published: By: Unknown - 6:28 PM

F-35 fire update: JSF still good enough to fly!

It looks as if a slight case of spontaneous combustion is not enough to ground the JSF fleet for very long.  After its second grounding (however brief) this month, the F-35 is still flying.

While the cause of the fire is still not known, authorities are confident (or desperate) enough to continue flying the JSF.  This is good news for those looking forward to seeing the JSF make its first trans-Atlantic appearance in the United Kingdom next month.

Published: By: Unknown - 7:46 AM