Fifteen of the 23 F-35 jets delivered to the Pentagon by Lockheed Martin have been grounded because ejection seat parachutes were improperly installed.
The Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter program office confirmed Monday that the jets were grounded last Thursday.The six F-35A planes at Edwards Air Force Base in California were conducting developmental test flights.The planes at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, six F-35As and three F-35Bs, were already restricted to ground testing in preparation for pilot training. That activity can continue.Five F-35B and three F-35C test aircraft at Patuxent River Naval Air Station have a different model ejection seat and are not affected.F-35 flights cannot resume until new ejection seats are shipped by the British manufacturer, Martin Baker Aircraft Corp.The first seats with repacked parachutes will arrive in about 10 days.Parachutes in the affected ejection seats were packed backward from the design specifications, the program office said in a statement, and would not have deployed properly if a pilot had been forced to eject.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
