F-35 hit with damning reports as Pentagon eyes full rate production

F-35 hit with damning reports as Pentagon eyes full rate production

Less than 48 hours after Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon reached a handshake agreement on the purchase of a whopping 480 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, an absolute cluster bomb of stories has dropped detailing significant technical issues with the jets. “CAT 1-As are loss of life, potential loss of life, loss of material aircraft,” U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Mathias Winter, the current head of the F-35 JPO, said in defense of the program in an interview with Defense News. The F-35 program’s top officer said that nine of the 13 deficiencies Defense News reported on are on track to get fixed before the Pentagon makes a decision to proceed with full-rate production of the jets, set to occur later this year, while software fixes down the road are expected to solve two more.

Source: www.thedrive.com