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 The pilot aborted the takeoff and was not injured, said Joe
DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagon's F-35 program office. He
had no immediate details on the cause of the fire or extent of the
damage to the F-35 conventional takeoff model.
The fire occurred in the rear part of the plane where the engine is
located, but it was unclear whether the engine was involved. Engine
maker Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, said it
was aware of the incident and stood ready to assist in the Air Force
investigation.
The incident came just days before a group of F-35 B-model jets are
due to fly to Britain for the jet's international debut. One U.S.
defense official said it was too soon to say whether the fire would
delay those plans or affect them in any way.
DellaVedova said it was unclear what caused the fire, but Air Force
officials had temporarily suspended flights of the A-model jets at
the base until the root cause was found. "Safety is paramount, and
all F-35A flight operations have been temporarily suspended at Eglin
as they investigate the nature of the incident," he said. Emergency
responders were able to put out the fire, which occurred about 0915
local time, he said. Lockheed referred questions to the 33rd Fighter
Wing, which is responsible for training F-35 pilots for the Air
Force, Navy, Marine Corps and international militaries.
This is the second incident that has affected F-35 flights in recent
weeks. The U.S. military ordered mandatory inspections of all 97
F-35 fighter jets earlier this month after a Marine Corps F-35
B-model jet suffered an oil leak in flight.
The incident was resolved quickly, and all but three jets returned
to flight status with days. Those three jets are being repaired to
deal with a faulty part, the F-35 spokesman said.
It was not immediately clear whether the fire would trigger
fleet-wide inspection orders for all three models of the F-35.
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Lockheed is building three models of the new warplane for the U.S.
military: a conventional takeoff version for the Air Force, a short
takeoff and vertical landing version for the Marine Corps, and a
carrier-based version for the Navy.
Britain helped fund development of the radar-evading jet, along with
seven other countries: Australia, Norway, Italy, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Turkey and Canada. Japan, Israel and South Korea have
also placed orders for the warplane.
News of the fire also overshadowed a new report from the Pentagon's
chief weapons buyer that showed the projected cost of retrofits
required for the jet had dropped to $1.65 billion as of February
2014, from $1.75 billion a year earlier.
It said Lockheed was working closely with the F-35 program office to
reduce the time required to implement design changes into the
production line, which was helping to lower the cost.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese and Ken Wills)
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