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EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon clears F-35 to fly in lightning after years-long hold
Breaking Defense ^ | April 01, 2024 at 4:02 PM | Valerie Insinna and Michael Marrow

Posted on 04/02/2024 4:19:06 AM PDT by Fish Speaker

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has lifted lightning restrictions for the most widely used version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, allowing the Lockheed Martin jet to fly in thunderstorms for the first time since 2020, Breaking Defense has learned.

The Defense Department formally lifted the restrictions on March 19 after devising a hardware and software fix for the lightning protection system used aboard the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant, JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere said in response to a press inquiry.

The F-35A had been prohibited from flying within 25 miles of lightning since June 2020, when damaged tubes were found installed on the On-Board Inert Gas Generation System (OBIGGS) in several planes.

The OBIGGS prevents a jet from exploding when being struck by lightning by pumping nitrogen-enriched air into the fuel tanks to make its contents inert, and damage to the tubes carrying the inert gas raised the specter that the system would not function properly in an emergency.

(Excerpt) Read more at breakingdefense.com ...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: f35; lightning; obiggs; production
The approval ends an ironic episode for the fighter nicknamed the "Lightning II."
1 posted on 04/02/2024 4:19:06 AM PDT by Fish Speaker
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To: Fish Speaker

F-35... an overpriced POS that’s never performed anywhere near it’s design requirements. Failed miserably through out DT&E and OT so they just kept changing the requirements.


2 posted on 04/02/2024 4:27:52 AM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: Fish Speaker

“The Pentagon has lifted lightning restrictions for the most widely used version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, allowing the Lockheed Martin jet to fly in thunderstorms for the first time since 2020”

Take that, Putin!!!!

(for once, it’s not sarcasm, we finally ‘added’ some military capability since the start of the war, rather than removed capability...but obviously too little, too late)


3 posted on 04/02/2024 4:30:43 AM PDT by BobL (The USA was not built with DEI and it will not survive being forced into DEI)
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To: maddog55

Ah, so its a woman in the military.


4 posted on 04/02/2024 4:37:51 AM PDT by RainMan ((Democrats ... making war against America since April 12, 1861))
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To: Fish Speaker

I wonder how the pilots are doing with their gas tubes?

Ride the lightning baby!


5 posted on 04/02/2024 4:46:58 AM PDT by Candor7 (Ask not for whom Trump Trolls,He trolls for thee!),<img src="" width=300</img><a href="">tag</a>)
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To: BobL

Why would anyone want to fly in a thunderstorm anyway?


6 posted on 04/02/2024 4:47:12 AM PDT by Mark17 (Retired USAF air traffic controller. Father of USAF Captain & pilot. Both bitten by the aviation bug)
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To: Mark17

To bomb things.


7 posted on 04/02/2024 4:48:18 AM PDT by 2111USMC (Aim Small Miss Small)
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To: Mark17

“Why would anyone want to fly in a thunderstorm anyway?”

I suspect it actually works well if you’re trying to evade people shooting at you from the ground or from the air, but the technology has changed significantly since my day, so not sure on this one.


8 posted on 04/02/2024 4:53:57 AM PDT by BobL (The USA was not built with DEI and it will not survive being forced into DEI)
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To: Fish Speaker

So, our military went from the Lockheed Lightning (P-38) to Lockheed ain’t going in lightning, eh? I’d kill to fly a P-38 for a bit, but the F-35? Meh...give me an F-16 or perhaps a Raptor. I can’t take fugly.


9 posted on 04/02/2024 5:11:15 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Mark17

“Why would anyone want to fly in a thunderstorm anyway?”

Commercial aircraft that use these same systems have to do it all the time. You just cannot go around every storm, you would never get to where you are going. This world would come to a stop if they never flew through storms.


10 posted on 04/02/2024 5:20:22 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Da Coyote

The F 35’s just penetrated the best Russian air defenses in existence and wiped out the Iranian General and staff commanding the Hezbollah war against Israel.

That act alone makes the F 35 a truly great warrior aircraft


11 posted on 04/02/2024 5:32:55 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Hamascide is required in totality)
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To: Fish Speaker
The JPO declined to detail how the most recent OBIGGS upgrades improved upon previous attempts, citing operational security.

They find damaged gas tubes, take 4 years to conclude it was not a production defect, and label 'opsec' as a cover for damage which occurs either during normal flight operations or inadvertent/improper maintenance activities.

Nice. /s

12 posted on 04/02/2024 5:43:39 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: bert
The F 35’s just penetrated the best Russian air defenses in existence and wiped out the Iranian General and staff commanding the Hezbollah war against Israel.

That act alone makes the F 35 a truly great warrior aircraft

There you go again, stating something factual in a FR thread. Prepare to be scorched by all of the armchair experts.

13 posted on 04/02/2024 6:44:22 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: Fish Speaker

Very very frightening.


14 posted on 04/02/2024 6:48:45 AM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: bert
Talk about a pinpoint hit from that F-35, too...


The Iranian embassy (left) does not appear to have been damaged in the strike on the next door consulate building

15 posted on 04/02/2024 8:39:31 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“When exposing a crime is treated like a crime, you are being ruled by criminals” – Edward SnowdenA)
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To: Fish Speaker

somewhere, PukinDog is laughing...


16 posted on 04/02/2024 8:42:26 AM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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