By Sven Berg August 20, 2017 On Aug. 7, Elaine Clegg stood at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, and listened to the roar of F-35s taking off and landing a couple hundred yards away. Clegg, president of the Boise City Council, also witnessed F-16s and other planes at the base. She said she […]
By George Prentice July 19, 2017 The city of Boise and a grassroots neighborhood group are in a dogfight over proposed mission Listen to enough people argue about the possibility of an F-35 mission coming to Gowen Field in Boise and you’ll soon realize the only common ground you hear is an agreement that only […]
By David Wichner June 20, 2017 The National Guard Bureau plans to discontinue its “Operation Snowbird” visitor pilot training program, according to documents filed this week in a federal lawsuit aimed at stopping expansion of that program and other training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. A May 23 memorandum from the chief of airspace and […]
By Stefan Becket June 21, 2017 An F-16 fighter jet crashed during takeoff from an airbase in Houston on Wednesday, prompting the evacuation of a one-mile area around the scene of the crash. The aircraft from the 138th Fighter Wing at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base was embarking on a training mission for NORAD when […]
By Jon Queally July 10, 2017 There is always another $27 billion lying around, it seems, when Lockheed Martin needs more money for expensive weapons system The nation’s most expensive weapons program isn’t done showing U.S. taxpayers how much it will ultimately cost them, with Bloomberg reporting Monday that the F-35 fighter jet budget is now predicted to jump by […]
By Perry Vandell June 19, 2017 F-35s at Luke Air Force Base will scream across the sky again on Wednesday. Officials at the Glendale base announced Monday that they will lift the flight suspension that grounded its 55 F-35s since June 9 after five pilots complained of hypoxia-like symptoms over a five-week span. Symptoms ranged from dizziness to tingling in […]
July 14, 2017 Another pilot in Arizona experienced lightheadedness and breathing difficulties this week, Arizona Central reported Thursday. The event took place on Monday, a spokesman told AZ Central, which is owned by USA Today. Last month, several squadrons of F-35 jets at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona, were grounded following multiple episodes of hypoxia in the month of May. The oxygen […]
By Tyler Rogoway July 10, 2017 Seminar by F-35 testers details tense nighttime carrier vertical landing that almost went wrong and the breaking off of a F-35B’s refueling probe tip during tanker trials. A video from Flight Test Safety Committee’s conference early last May offers a fascinating insight into the F-35 test program. A talk put on […]
August 8, 2017 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: DOD’s Proposed Follow-on Modernization Acquisition Strategy Reflects an Incremental Approach Although Plans Are Not Yet Finalized The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the Department of Defense’s (DOD) most expensive and ambitious acquisition program. In April 2017, we reported that acquisition costs alone are estimated at nearly $400 billion, […]
By Missy Ryan and Aaron Gregg January 27 In one of his first actions at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary retired Gen. James Mattis has ordered a review of two costly programs that President Trump has pointed out as examples of wasteful government spending. In a pair of memorandums dated on Thursday, Mattis ordered Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. […]