Seven F-35s to Resume Test Flights

The grounding was ordered after one plane experienced an in-flight failure of two electrical generators and an oil leak Wednesday.

The suspension was lifted on seven aircraft with older-model generators. The three using a newer version remained grounded, said Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the F-35 program office.

An analysis of incident data showed that the problem was with the newer design.

Also Monday, the Navy detailed its plans to buy 680 F-35s, half suited for aircraft carrier landings and half short-takeoff and vertical-landing versions for the Marines.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus; Adm. Gary Roughead, naval operations chief; and Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant, updated a 2002 agreement between the services.

It outlines the number of Marine fighter squadrons to operate off Navy carriers, steps to improve training, and production schedules.

The update reaffirms the number of planes and for the first time specifies that the Navy will buy 340 of the more complex F-35B short-takeoff, vertical-landing model for the Marines.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has put the F-35B version on "probation," giving contractor Lockheed Martin and the Marines two years to fix development problems and show that the aircraft can complete testing and meet performance and reliability specifications.

If the F-35B can't be fixed during the probation period, he said, it should be canceled.

The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program. It was launched in October 2001 with a goal of producing 2,866 aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marines for a little more than $200 billion, or around $50 million per aircraft.

But the Pentagon's cost estimates have soared, because of technical and production problems, cost growth and schedule delays, to an estimated $382 billion for 2,457 aircraft, and more than $100 million per aircraft.

Lockheed is assembling the aircraft and managing the program at its west Fort Worth plant and has about half its 14,000-person workforce on the program.

An aircraft subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee has a hearing today to review the F-35 budget for fiscal 2012. Vice Adm. David Venlet, the program manager, is scheduled to give his first congressional testimony since taking over the program in February 2010.

By Tony Carpaccio
Bloomberg news