Most US F-35s temporarily grounded as ejection seat issue threatens jets worldwide – By Rachel S. Cohen (Military Times) / July 29, 2022
Air Force discovered defect in April but didn’t know its full scope
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 8:52 p.m. on July 29, 2022, with more information from the ejection seat manufacturer and the U.S. military.
The U.S. military discovered a problem with the ejection seats used across its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet in April, but waited three months to ground those aircraft flown by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to fully investigate the issue, multiple sources told Air Force Times Friday.
Officials initially saw the problem as a potentially isolated incident. But an ongoing investigation sourced the issue to the production line, prompting waves of temporary stand-downs this week.
“During a routine maintenance inspection at Hill [Air Force Base, Utah,] in April ‘22, an anomaly was discovered with one of the seat cartridge actuated devices in the F-35 seat,” Steve Roberts, a spokesperson for seat manufacturer Martin-Baker, said Friday. “This was quickly traced back to a gap in the manufacturing process, which was addressed and changed.”
