By: Mike Dougherty for VTDigger, Sept. 13, 2019 The first two F-35s in the Vermont Air National Guard’s new fleet of fighter jets are scheduled to arrive in Burlington by next Friday. But a coalition of protesters who have fought the basing for years continues to press the military to change its mind. NBC5 first […]
By: Aidan Quigley for VTDigger, Sept. 9, 2019 BURLINGTON — Police arrested two retired Air Force officers Monday evening for refusing to leave Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office in downtown Burlington, as part of an ongoing protest against the basing of F-35s at Burlington International Airport. Retired Col. Rosanne Greco and retired Lt. Col. Roger Bourassa […]
By: Dan Grazier for POGO, Aug. 6, 2019 The F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in the operational test fleet at California’s Edwards Air Force Base are suffering from low readiness rates that may threaten the successful completion of the crucial combat-testing phase of the program, as shown in a chart created by the Joint Program Office’s […]
By: David Axe for The National Interest, July 18, 2019 The F-35 Lighting II The U.S. military’s growing fleet of F-35 stealth fighters will fall short of the 80 percent readiness goal that former Defense Secretary James Mattis instituted before quitting in protest of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy in January 2019. Former Secretary of […]
By: Valerie Insinna for Defense News, Jun. 12, 2019 WASHINGTON — Over the past several years, U.S. Defense Department leaders have gone from citing technical problems as their biggest concern for the F-35 program to bemoaning the expense of buying and sustaining the aircraft. But the reality may be worse. According to documents exclusively obtained by Defense News, the F-35 […]
By: Charles P. Pierce for Esquire, Jun. 12, 2019 One of our regular features here at the shebeen is checking out the latest on the F-35, a.k.a. the money pit in the sky, a.k.a. The Flying Swiss Army Knife. (In addition, the president* may believe that it is actually invisible, like Wonder Woman’s plane.) Usually, […]
This document comes from the United Stated Government Accountability Office, and was published in April 2019. What GAO Found F-35 aircraft performance is falling short of warfighter requirements—that is, aircraft cannot perform as many missions or fly as often as required. Figure: F-35 Fleet Aircraft Performance, May 2018—November 2018 This lower-than-desired aircraft performance is due […]
By Tokyo (AFP) for Space Daily, June 4, 2019 Japan called off its search for an F-35A on Tuesday, almost two months after the stealth jet crashed into the sea sparking a scramble to recover the pilot and secrets onboard. Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters the search had been halted but that his teams […]
By: Anthony Capaccio for Bloomberg, May 11, 2019 The crash of a U.S. Marine Corps F-35 that temporarily grounded the entire fleet of next-generation jets in 2018 was caused by a manufacturing defect in a fuel tube made by a United Technologies subcontractor, according to congressional investigators. The defect “caused an engine fuel tube to rupture during […]
By: Aidan Quigley for VTDigger, Apr. 24, 2019 The first noise map for the Burlington International Airport that includes the F-35s coming this fall is “substantially complete” and won’t include any surprises, airport officials say. The map is consistent with findings in the Air Force’s Environmental Impact Statement and will be published May 28, according […]