The F-35 expensive peices of junks
In the 1st place US have no money to pay for these, even after placing orders. Their usual trick of Forcing so called allies to buy, so that they pay for USAF's bills also won't work as these allies are also broke.
Even if they could be made at all sorts of cost cuts, they are junks that had been grounded before really deployed. Just as F-22 had been grounded.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...ed-after-electrical-subsystem-failure-360325/
F-35 fleet grounded after electrical subsystem failure
By: Stephen Trimble Washington DC
08:01 3 Aug 2011
Source:
The Lockheed Martin F-35 fleet is grounded while the joint programme office (JPO) investigates the cause of a failure in the aircraft's electrical system during ground tests.
The failure occurred on an F-35A conventional take-off and landing test aircraft, numbered AF-4, but the precautionary grounding applies to all 20 F-35s that had reached flying status, according to a JPO statement.
"Once the facts are understood, a determination will be made when to lift the suspension and begin ground and flight operations," the JPO said.
The incident marks the third grounding order for the F-35 fleet since last October, and the second in five months involving the AF-4 test aircraft.
In this case, the Honeywell-built integrated power package (IPP) failed during a standard engine test following a maintenance check at 08:30 on 2 August, the JPO said.
The IPP is primarily used as both a starter for the engine and a back-up electrical system, supporting the two main generators. In March, the IPP proved its worth by activating after both generators shut-down with AF-4 still in flight. The power generated by the IPP allowed the flight control system to keep operating until the pilot landed.
That incident also triggered a fleet-wide grounding in March until Lockheed fixed a flaw with a new generator system design introduced on AF-4. Some aircraft remained grounded for several weeks until the problem was fixed.
Last October, the fleet was also grounded after Lockheed discovered a software glitch that could have allowed the fuel pump to shut down above 10,000ft (3,050m).
The electrical system has been the cause of three of four major incidents so far during the development phase. The first incident was recorded in May 2007, when the test aircraft numbered AA-1 experienced an electrical short that disabled flight controls on the horizontal stabliser.
http://rt.com/usa/news/f22-f35-fleet-grounded/
All F-35 and F-22s grounded
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Published: 04 August, 2011, 00:47
Edited: 09 August, 2011, 18:39
An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, marked AA-1, lands Oct. 23 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (
http://www.af.mil)
An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, marked AA-1, lands Oct. 23 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (
http://www.af.mil)
TAGS: Arms, Military, History, USA, Government Spending, Economy
Over 200 of the most expensive aircraft in the world are used by the US Military, but fleets of war planes owned by the Air Force are sitting on the sidelines, despite costing billions of dollars.
All 20 of the F-35 aircraft in a fleet manufactured by Lockheed Martin were grounded today after the factory’s Joint Program Office (JPO) identified a failure in the plane’s electrical system while conducting tests on the ground.
An official for the JPO tells Flight International that they are investigating the problem, and once the facts are “understood,” Lockheed Martin will then decide what to do with the fleet of planes.
This F-35 fleet has been grounded three times now since October. The one plane that triggered the problem, the AF-4, has been grounded itself twice in 2011 alone.
The fleet of F-35s join 187 F-22’s purchased by the Air Force through Lockheed Martin have been out of operation since they were first acquired in 2005. Those planes, worth a total of $77.4 billion, have remained out of use since they were first added to the Military’s arsenal. In May, however, malfunctions in the oxygen system installed in the crafts caused the Air Force to indefinitely ground the fleet, this time with actual reason.
Aside from training and patrol operations, the nearly $80 billion worth of F-22s have never been used by the US Military, despite the country’s engagement in several wars.
In 2009, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the F-22 was something the Military needed in order to defeat highly advanced enemy fighter fleets, but added, “to be blunt, does not make much sense anyplace else in the spectrum of conflict.”
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http://www.f-16.net/news_article4401.html
F-35 Lightning II News
F-35 grounded after electrical system failure thus joining the F-22
August 5, 2011 (by Lieven Dewitte) - For the third time in less than a year, the Pentagon has grounded all F-35 joint strike fighters because of a mechanical problem. The F-35s thus join the F-22 Raptors in stand down mode.
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A crew chief from the 33rd FW guides F-35A #08-0747 to its final parking position on July 14th, 2011. The aircraft is the first production F-35 to be delivered to the wing. AF-9 arrived at 13.18hrs CDT after launching on its 90-minute ferry flight from Fort Worth.
All flight and ground operations for the Joint Strike Fighter were ceased after the integrated power package (IPP) on a U.S. Air Force variant test aircraft failed on August 2nd during a ground maintenance run at Edwards Air Force Base.
The 20 operational test and training aircraft were parked and will stay that way until engineers and technicians can find why a power system that starts and cools the aircraft failed during an engine ground test Tuesday at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Flight and ground tests could potentially be suspended for a few weeks.
Suspending flights "is the prudent action to take at this time until the F-35 engineering, technical and system safety teams fully understand the cause of the incident," the F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement. The program office oversees contractors and military test teams.
Few details of the incident were released, but the program office said that once the power system failed "the engine was immediately shut down and the jet was secured. No injuries to the pilot or ground crew occurred."
The F-22 Raptors have been grounded since May after several pilots experienced hypoxia-like symptoms. Air Force officials do not yet know the cause but suspect carbon monoxide and toxins seeping into the cockpits.
This isn't the first (or second) time the F-35 has been grounded within the last year. A software glitch that could shut down fuel pumps in flight shelved the planes last October while an electrical issue put them out of service again this March.
The system that failed this week, the integrated power package, was on the same plane whose electrical generator failed in March. The particular aircraft is an AF-4, which is a conventional takeoff and landing version of the multi-role aircraft.
The failure occurred in the integrated power pack (IPP), which is used to start the main jet engine, provide air conditioning for the cockpit and numerous electrical systems, and generate backup electrical power.
The cessation or limiting of specific operations during the test program is not particularly unusual, but putting a halt to ground operations is less common. Overall, the F-35 is ahead of its latest schedule, which was put in place in January. Margins have been built into it to accommodate these kinds of incidents that occur in a development effort.
Related articles:
F-22 pilots losing qualification as Raptors remain grounded (2011-08-05)
F-35 Lightning II flight test report (2011-07-27)
F-35 fleet grounded for generator failure and oil leak (2011-03-19)
Other F-35 Lightning II News
News archive for August 2011
External link:
JSF Force Grounded (by Bill Sweetman, Ares/AW&ST)
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F-35 fleet grounded after electrical subsystem failure (36 replies)
