FARNBOROUGH: US military officials have approved limited flights for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets, but the Pentagon said the newest US combat jet would not make its international debut before potential buyers this week.
The F-35, the world’s most expensive weapons project with a price tag of about $400bn, has been grounded since the massive failure of a Pratt & Whitney engine on a US Air Force F-35 plane at a Florida air base on June 23. Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said yesterday US Air Force and Navy officials had granted the radar-evading jet a limited flight clearance that required engine inspections and carried restrictions on its flights.
Kirby said the jet would not make a much anticipated debut at the Farnborough air show. “I can confirm that the Department of Defense in concert with our partners in the UK has decided not to send Marine Corps and UK F-35B aircraft across the Atlantic to participate in the Farnborough air show,” Kirby said.
“While we’re disappointed that we’re not going to be able to participate in the air show, we remain fully committed to the program itself and look forward to future opportunities to showcase its capabilities to allies and to partners.”
The jet’s failure to appear at a big military air show in Britain last week as well as its absence from the Farnborough event in southern England have been a blow for US officials and their international partners, who were hoping to showcase the capabilities of the new multi-role fighter.
Reuters
