WASHINGTON — The Defense Department has grounded its fleet of F-35 jets after one of them caught fire as it was preparing to take off at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, the Pentagon said.
The grounding is the latest in a long string of delays that have plagued the Air Force’s newest, and most advanced, fighter aircraft, and it comes just days before the plane was to make its international debut at an air show in Britain.
The root cause of the problem at Eglin two weeks ago remains under investigation, the Pentagon’s press secretary, Rear Admiral John F. Kirby, said in a statement Thursday.
“Additional inspections of F-35 engines have been ordered, and return to flight will be determined based on inspection results and analysis of engineering data,” he said.
The Pentagon was seeking to determine if the Eglin fire was an isolated incident or whether it signaled a wider problem in the F-35 fleet, which is spread across the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.
Kirby said preparations were continuing for the fighter jet to take part in international air shows. A final decision on the British exhibition will be made in a few days, he said.
No one was injured in the fire at Eglin. The F-35, which is manufactured by Lockheed Martin, will bring stealth capability to the country’s fighter fleet; its backers say it will also bring a new versatility that will enable it to operate in virtually any battle situation.
The F-35 — as the only model available for export from America’s so-called fifth generation of such aircraft — has already racked up many orders on the global market. Australia, Britain, Israel, Italy, and Japan have all placed orders.
The planes have run into delays amid criticism of the costs, which can vary wildly.