After being hit by Iran, the F-35 crashed again
It hasn't been even a few days since Iran reportedly struck an "Eagle" fighter jet (F-35), and now the U.S. military has lost another aircraft.
According to news from the U.S. "The War Zone" website, on March 31, an F-35 Lightning fighter jet crashed at a test and training range in southern Nevada. The pilot ejected safely and sustained only minor injuries. So far, the U.S. military's preliminary explanation for the accident is that the aircraft experienced a "control malfunction."
Since the first crash incident in 2018, a total of about 10 confirmed complete losses of U.S. Lightning fighter jets have occurred—however, if all minor incidents are included, such as emergency landings, hard landings, bird strikes, ground collisions, or safe returns after system failures, the actual number is significantly higher. Media outlets like the "Aviation Safety Network" and "Aviation News" have compiled statistics ranging broadly between 30 and 40 incidents.
This high accident rate is clearly abnormal. While it could be partly attributed to the intense training load faced by U.S. pilots, the aircraft’s inherent design flaws and reliability issues are undoubtedly also to blame.
Due to the hollowing out of American manufacturing and Lockheed Martin’s overpromising in the past, the three variants of the Lightning fighter jet have still not achieved all the functions originally touted by Lockheed Martin. Even early batches lack full air combat capabilities, and recently there was a scandal involving the delivery of fighter jets without radar systems.
These problems have directly caused a significant gap between the real-world performance of the U.S. Lightning fighter jets and their theoretical specifications. According to U.S. military data from the 2024 fiscal year, the mission capable rate of the Lightning fighter jets stands at only 50%, far below the Pentagon's minimum requirement of 75% to 90%.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1861236489501763/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.