The Trillion Dollar F-35 Is Grounded Yet Again

The Trillion Dollar F-35 Is Grounded Yet Again

In what is becoming almost as consistent as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, the F-35 — America’s trillion dollar joke of a fighter jet — has been grounded again. I don’t even know how many times the fighter jet has been grounded now, I’ve lost count. This time, it’s because of a crack in a turbine blade of the engine.

According to the Department of defence, all F-35s in the Air Force, Navy and Marines have been grounded after an engine inspection revealed the crack on the engine blade.

Inspectors found the crack in an F135 engine installed in an F-35A Lightning II aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. This is the conventional take-off and landing version of the joint strike fighter.

The Air Force has shipped the cracked engine to Pratt & Whitney’s engine facility (it makes the engines) in Connecticut for further evaluation. It’s supposed to be only a precautionary measure but it’s yet another embarrassing failure for the F-35. Whether it’s parachutes being loaded the wrong way or power systems affecting the temperature or software bugging out in simulations, there’s always something going wrong with these planes. Maybe some things just aren’t meant to be.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.