F-35 Forced to Land After Caution Light Comes On
An F-35 fighter plane on its way to Nevada was forced to land in Texas after its internal warning light came on. The pilot was able to land safely, and no one was injured; the plane is now being investigated at the Lubbock, Texas airport by its makers.
According to reports, the plane's manufacturers, Lockheed Martin are already en route to investigate what happened to cause the caution light to come on. This is the latest in a series of problems for the F-35 line of fighters. Reuters reported that this is the second time an F-35 has been grounded for "engine-related" issues.
The plane is the latest debuted by the Air Force; the line of planes is so new that pictures of the plane have been extremely limited.
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"The multi-role, supersonic, stealthy fighter aircraft is designed to undertake air defense, ground attack and reconnaissance missions. The F-35A CTOL aircraft is designed mainly as a low-visibility aircraft with air-to-ground attack and air-to-air combat capabilities. Turning agility of the aircraft is nine times the force of gravity," Airforce Technology noted.
Right now the plane is under guard by members of the National Guard in order to prevent information and photos being leaked by members of the press or people who simply want to see the powerful aircraft.
"Nobody can get to the airplane," Gary Loftus, airport operations manager at the Lubbock airport told Reuters.
The series of planes is produced by Lockheed Martin and are being developed not only for the Air Force but also for the Navy and Marine Corps. The United States will not be the only ones to have the aircraft: Britain, Australia, Canada, Italy, Turkey, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands have all ordered their own aircraft.
After the F-35 is repaired, it will either continue on to the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, where it was originally scheduled to go, or return to the Lockheed plant for further inspection.
