U.S. Department of Defense grounds F-35 during engine fire investigation
The cause of the June 23 fire remains unknown; the grounding may prevent the plane's appearance at the Farnborough International Airshow.
The U.S. Department of Defense reported on July 3 that the technical air worthiness authorities of the U.S. Department of the Air Force and the U.S. Department of the Navy have issued a directive to ground the F-35 Lightning II fleet of multi-role fighter jets based on initial findings from the runway fire incident that occurred at Eglin Air Force Base on Monday, June 23.
The root cause of the incident remains under investigation. Additional inspections of F-35 engines have been ordered, and return to flight will be determined based on inspection results and analysis of engineering data. Preparations continue for F-35 participation at the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom (July 14-20), however, a final decision has yet to be made.