An F-35 engine failed during a pre-delivery test due to a vibration problem in March 2020, nearly three years before a similar issue caused an alarming fighter mishap in Fort Worth, Texas, Defense News has learned.

The F-35 Joint Program Office and Pratt & Whitney, the Raytheon-owned maker of the F135 engines that power the F-35, said in a statement to Defense News that Pratt “immediately informed the JPO” after the 2020 vibration failure occurred.

The next day, experts from Pratt & Whitney, the JPO, and the military services that fly the F-35 began a “full systems engineering investigation” to find the root cause of the problem and “develop a path forward,” the JPO and Pratt & Whitney said.

After the four-month investigation, the experts decided the engines needed “additional pre-acceptance procedures” to test and screen them and, when necessary, take action to mitigate any vibration issues that were discovered.

Poster Comment:

If you are only willing to pay $115 million for a plane, you cannot expect it to fly without falling out of the sky!!