The Hidden Troubles of the F-35
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The number of major F-35 flaws is shrinking, but the Pentagon is keeping details of the problems under wraps
The F-35 program currently has 857 deficiencies, but only seven are considered “critical.”
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The inside story of two supersonic flights that changed how America operates the F-35
Day-to-day restrictions on supersonic flight won’t stop pilots from pushing the F-35 to the limits in combat, an F-35 test pilot tells Defense News.
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The Pentagon will have to live with limits on F-35’s supersonic flights
The Navy’s and Marine Corps’ versions of the F-35 will have restrictions on how long they can fly at supersonic speeds because of a risk of damage to the tail section.
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Five F-35 issues have been downgraded, but they remain unsolved
Five of the 13 major technical issues first revealed by Defense News have been downgraded in the last year.
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The Pentagon has cut the number of serious F-35 technical flaws in half
The Pentagon is making progress resolving F-35 glitches, but new issues continue to crop up.
VIDEOS
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Here are the problems faced by the F-35, and how some can be fixed
Documents provided to Defense News reveal issues facing the F-35 fighter jet as it nears a major milestone. Find out what they are and if they’ll be fixed.
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Here are the problems faced by the F-35, and how some can be fixed
Documents provided to Defense News reveal issues facing the F-35 fighter jet as it nears a major milestone. Find out what they are, if they’ll be fixed and why they’re just now coming to light.
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The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unreported F-35 problems
Defense News exclusively obtained documents detailing the F-35 jet’s most serious deficiencies.
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Supersonic speeds could cause big problems for the F-35′s stealth coating
Supersonic flight at the edge of the F-35 jet’s flight envelope could cause structural damage or degrade its stealth coating, warn documents exclusively obtained by Defense News.
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Two F-35 partners threatened to quit the program. Here’s why they didn’t.
How serious were the problems? Serious enough that a couple countries threatened to pull out of the program, according to U.S. Defense Department documents.
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FAQ: Your guide to understanding how the military rates F-35 technical shortfalls
Confused about what it means for the F-35 to have a deficiency? We have your primer here.
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A fix is coming for a problem that left two F-35 pilots in ‘excruciating’ pain
Oxygen deprivation isn’t the only issue known to cause physiological episodes among F-35 pilots.
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When the F-35 blows a tire, it can set off a chain reaction of potential failures
The problem has been fixed in the carrier variant, but why aren’t the “A” and “B” models getting the same correction?
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When US Navy and Marine F-35 pilots most need performance, the aircraft becomes erratic
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ F-35s become unpredictable to handle when executing the kind of extreme maneuvers a pilot would use in a dogfight or while avoiding a missile.
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The Marine Corps’ ‘No. 1 priority’ for the F-35 involves a rough landing in hot environments
When it’s a hot one, the F-35B might struggle to land safely. And that could be bad news for industry.
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The F-35 has to keep landing in cold weather. Here’s the plan to fix it.
The F-35 battery is getting too cold to operate in Alaska — or it at least thinks it is.
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Inventory management failures are grounding F-35 jets
The F-35 relies on a key piece of software for maintenance, but that system isn’t working the way it should.
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Amid ‘green glow’ concerns, another issue has emerged for pilots flying the F-35 at night
During low-light conditions, the F-35’s night vision camera display starts showing wonky horizontal lines across the screen that obstruct the pilot’s view of the horizon.
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The US Navy is seeking upgrades for the F-35 radar’s sea-search mode
Giving the Navy what it wants will be a matter of boosting computing power and upgrading software. So where would that come from?