by Bill Carey
Ranking U.S. Air Force officers delivered a robust defense of the F-35 Lightning II on September 20, even as a limited number of A-model fighters remained grounded because of a fuel-tank insulation problem while others on the assembly line must be fixed. The service and manufacturer Lockheed Martin plan to repair the 15 grounded fighters by December.
“I’m hopeful that as we continue to grow this fleet, we all take the opportunity to form opinions on this airplane from experts, and the only experts in the F-35 business are those that fix, maintain and fly the F-35 on a day-to-day basis,” Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, director of the Air Force F-35 Integration Office, told the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber conference in National Harbor, Md. “If you are forming your opinions by somebody who has not fixed or flown the airplane, I would tell you you’re wrong. I’m here to tell you that this aircraft is performing very well and getting better each and every day.”
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