The F-35 program leadership has cleared some, but not all, F-35 test aircraft to resume flight operations after an in-flight anomaly with one aircraft last week temporarily suspended operations. F-35 spokesman Joe DellaVedova told the Daily Report Tuesday that three F-35As (AF-1, AF-2, AF-3) and four F-35Bs (BF-1, BF-2, BF-3, BF-4) are no longer under the flight suspension. In fact, AF-1 on Monday became the first F-35 test aircraft to return to flight. However, three test assets (AF-4, BF-5, CF-1) and the first two F-35 production-version airplanes (AF-6, AF-7) remain grounded, he said. The fleet-wide flight suspension went into effect as a safety precaution after AF-4 experienced a dual generator failure and oil leak during a March 9 flight at Edwards AFB, Calif. Program officials continue to investigate the root cause, but already have determined that the issue is unique to a newer generator configuration that first appeared in the later batch of test aircraft, said DellaVedova. Therefore, they rescinded the flight suspension on the earlier test aircraft, he said.
Since President Donald Trump first unveiled his “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative in late January, much of the focus for it has been focused on space—how the Pentagon may deploy dozens, if not hundreds, of sensors and interceptors into orbit to protect the continental U.S. from missile barrages. But the Air…