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The U.S. Air Force’s F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters are now certified for delivery of B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs—and, in fact, have been since October 12, 2023. This bombshell—dropped by F-35’s Joint Program Office (JPO)—was reported by Breaking Defense Friday morning. JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere stated that the certification had actually been awarded months earlier and far ahead of schedule. This means that F-35As will now be considered “dual-capable” platforms useable in both conventional and nuclear warfare—in the latter role carrying up to two B61-12s internally and using its suite of ground-scanning sensors and datalinks to target the bomb more...

WASHINGTON — Problems with an upgrade installed on some Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters rolling off the production line have now disrupted plans to incorporate those upgrades on existing aircraft, and the F-35 Joint Program Office does not have a date for when those jets will get the much-anticipated retrofits. The F-35 program “was scheduled to begin TR-3 [Technology Refresh 3] retrofits in April 2024 with the intent to modify 149 aircraft over the subsequent 12-month period,” JPO spokesperson Russ Goemaere told Breaking Defense. But now, “[t]he Program is working closely with F-35 customers to establish a new start...

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...

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — For several years, a problem has been brewing for Lockheed Martin’s F-35: future upgrades will make the jet run even hotter than it does now, more than its current cooling system is believed to be able to handle. In the near term, Pentagon officials expect that a high-profile upgrade to the plane’s F135 engine will avoid most of these cooling issues. But in the longer term, the military fears future aircraft upgrades needed to keep pace with threats decades down the line will push the heat factor even higher, and officials have recently suggested they’re casting...

Did Chinese agents run a hotel at Meiringen military air base for years with the aim of finding out the secrets of the US F-35 fighter jet? There is no direct proof of this. But the evidence was apparently enough for the Bern cantonal police to evacuate the hotel in a discreet operation in late summer. Because of suspicions of Chinese espionage, authorities have also become active elsewhere in recent years. For example, on the campus of the University and ETH Lausanne, where a group of Chinese installed themselves in the publicly accessible library of the Swiss Institute for Comparative...

Maria Zakharova - spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry - warned the West that the advanced F-16 fighters delivered to Ukraine will be a fair target for Russia if they are based in NATO countries. She said that the fourth-generation fighter jets could be based in Poland, Slovakia and Romania, meaning NATO is 'getting deeper' into the Ukrainian conflict. 'There have been many questions asked about the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine,' said Zakharova, 47. She continued: 'I would like to say that NATO member states continue, as you understand, to intensively arm Ukraine and the supply of...

WASHINGTON — The flyaway cost for the F-15EX Eagle II is approximately $90 million for each aircraft in the program’s second production lot, about $7.5 million more than the newest price for an F-35A, Breaking Defense has learned. The Air Force has confirmed to Breaking Defense that a contract for the next three production lots of the Boeing-made F-15EX was finalized on Sept. 28, a major milestone for the program. But the $90 million per unit cost in the contract — a number that is expected to grow in successive lots — will likely raise eyebrows among critics both within...

WASHINGTON — Just 55% of the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet was mission capable as of March 2023, a disappointing statistic driven by factors like a lack of depot capacity, insufficient supply of spare parts and overreliance on contractors, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The watchdog’s assessment — published days after a Marine Corps F-35B went missing for over 24 hours in South Carolina — highlights a complaint frequently aired by government officials: prime contractor Lockheed Martin, along with its countless subcontractors, were given too much control over sustaining the stealth fighter, a situation...

On Sunday afternoon, it was announced an F-35 fighter jet valued at an estimated $100 million was missing. The US Marine Corps announced that the pilot of the F-35 had safely ejected from the jet but asked for the public’s help in locating the missing $100 million aircraft. Collin Rugg of Trending Politics shared a video showing the location of the crash. Along with the video, he wrote: “The debris field of the F-35 jet has been released after it was located in a field in Williamsburg County, South Carolina. The crash site was about 80 miles from Joint Base...

UPDATED 9/18/2023 at 7:24 pm ET with Joint Base Charleston’s announcement that the F-35’s “debris field” was located in South Carolina. WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump once referred to the F-35 as “invisible.” At least as far as officials in South Carolina are concerned, he might have been right. On Sunday, a pilot from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort punched out of his F-35B near Charleston. The pilot is safe, a spokesman for the station told Breaking Defense, but what’s unusual is that his Joint Strike Fighter wasn’t found until a full day later, with officials announcing its recovery Monday...

A F-35 jet could have crashed on Sunday due to poor weather in South Carolina, new audio suggests - as questions mount as to why the disastrous training exercise was allowed to proceed. The F-35B Lightning II which the unnamed Marine pilot was flying is believed to be at risk of malfunctions if it flies in thunderstorms, according to a Forbes investigation in November. Its sister jet, the F-35A, is more severely affected and cannot fly within 25 miles of lightning he issue lies within the F-35's OBIGGS (Onboard Inert Gas Generation) system, which pumps nitrogen-enriched air into its fuel...

The pilot who ejected from a $100 million F-35 fighter jet claimed to have lost the plane in the weather — and likely bailed out before he could activate its tracking system, sources and experts said. “He’s unsure of where his plane crashed, said he just lost it in the weather,” a voice can be heard saying of the pilot on a Charleston County Emergency Medical Services call posted Tuesday by a meteorologist. The unidentified pilot landed in a North Charleston residential neighborhood and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He has since been discharged. Military officials have...

NEW YORK, NY — As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the U.S. to petition the U.N. for additional funds for the ongoing war with Russia, he was angered to learn one of his F-35s had been carelessly ruined by the American military. "I mean…what gives, you guys?" Zelensky asked American military leaders. "That was one of your - I mean my - best planes! You owe me 80 million dollars now. Pay up, and add an additional 33 trillion for the inconvenience. For the war, you know?" The jet was abandoned over the southern part of the U.S. Monday...

Was the F-35 hacked, as someone that spent his entire working career in the IT industry, perhaps I'm more attuned to this type of story. Supposedly after the pilot ejected, the plane continued flying for some time before crashing, that immediately caught my attention, I figured if the situation was bad enough for the pilot to eject, the plane would have crashed in the same area, not miles away and why was the Pentagon unable to know immediately where the plane was. I did some digging into the history of the F-35 and found plenty of old articles about the...

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Authorities found a debris field Monday from a Marine Corps F-35 stealth fighter jet that crashed in South Carolina after the pilot ejected and parachuted to safety. The debris field was located in rural Williamsburg County, according to the Marine Corps’ Joint Base Charleston. The field is about two hours northeast of the base, and residents were being asked to avoid the area while the recovery team worked to secure it.

HUGER, SC — A team of Marines was seen trudging through the woods, stopping every 30 feet to wave a key fob around in a 90° arc, say campers at Francis Marion National Forest. The Marines, who traveled in a tactical column, were allegedly on a mission to locate, close with, and recover the F-35 fighter jet that went missing Sunday evening. "No contact," [redacted] whispered after stopping to listen for the 249th time. Sources confirm the missing F-35 never beeped in response to signals from the key fob, even if the unit leader did that thing where he tried...

Those F-35 stealth fighters must be even closer to invisible than I thought because the Marines lost one on Sunday and nobody can find it. A Marine piloting the special vertical takeoff and landing version, the F-35B, suffered some kind of “mishap” and was forced to eject over South Carolina. He ejected safely. He’s fine. We can go on and laugh. The plane, however, was nowhere to be found. Weighing in at over 32,000 pounds even when it isn’t filled with jet fuel, you’d think the missing jet would be easy to find, but no. There was genuine concern that...

U.S. military officials are searching for a missing F-35 jet after a "mishap" caused its pilot to eject on Sunday afternoon. Joint Base Charleston said on Facebook that the aircraft was a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II belonging to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. The pilot ejected safely and was transported to a local medical center. The base is working with Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort to help locate the missing aircraft. Emergency response teams have been deployed to find the jet. "Based on the jet’s last-known position and in coordination with the FAA, we are focusing our attention north...

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Military officials are working in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration after an F-35 went missing following a "mishap" near North Charleston on Sunday, September 17. "Based on the jet’s last-known position and in coordination with the FAA, we are focusing our attention north of JB Charleston, around Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion," Joint Base Charleston said via X, formerly known as Twitter. According to Joint Base Charleston, the aircraft is a F-35B Lighting II jet from Marine Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT). It was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. Both bases are working...

... The DoD may need a decade to build a reliable domestic supply chain, according to Mike Burns, managing partner of tech investment firm Murray Hill Group. The issue is how fast U.S.-based Intel can catch up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which makes Altera and Xilinx field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and other chips that the DoD uses in weapons systems like the F-35 fighter jet, missiles and command-and-control gear, he said. “Maybe that’s a three-year effort,” he told EE Times. “I’m just saying that it’s many years.” To be sure, TSMC more than tripled its overall investment...