Fighter Jet: F-35 Grounded By Pentagon

An F-35 fighter jet was grounded today after the Pentagon found a crack in the engine blade.

During what the Pentagon called a routine inspection at Edwards Air Force Base in California, a crack in the engine blade of an F-35A caused the whole fleet to be grounded. The Navy and the Marine Corps are buying other versions of the fighter jet intended to replace older fighters.

All 51 of the stealthy F-35 planes were grounded Friday pending a more in-depth inspection of the problem discovered at Edwards. All of the planes are still in the testing phase and none of them have been used in full operation.

The Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group, said the grounding is unlikely to create any significant delays in the use of the fighter jet. According to Yahoo News, Winslow Wheeler of said group stated:

“The F-35 is a huge problem because of its growing, already unaffordable, cost and its gigantically disappointing performance. That performance would be unacceptable even if the aircraft met its far-too-modest requirements, but it is not.”

The F-35 fighter jet cost almost $400 billion, making it the most expensive weapons program for the Pentagon. They plan to buy more than 2,400 F-35s, but Congress remains skeptical over the price, and with the crack in the engine discovered, they are probably even more cautious.

According to Fox News, the F-35 fighter jets will remain grounded until the cause of the problem can be found and fixed.

What do you think may have caused the crack in the engine of the F-35 fighter jet?

New troubles for Pentagon’s super-expensive F-35 fighter: Fleet is grounded nyti.ms/15BPqSy

— Tom Jolly (@TomJolly) February 22, 2013