The crash of a UK F-35B Lightning II fighter during take-off from the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) in the Mediterranean Sea recently came only one-third of the way into the planned for risk of loss of an airframe, based on fleet flight hours conducted.
Initial speculation suggested the ingestion by the F-35B of an engine cover as it launched down the flight deck, although the cause of the November 17 incident is yet to be determined as the official investigation continues. However, the accident occurred far earlier than risk planning had considered possible.
In a written UK parliamentary response on December 3, Jeremy Quin, UK Minister for Defence Procurement, stated that “a certain attrition of aircraft” was built into the platform’s procurement profile.
“The [F-35B] fleet size assumes a risk of on average one aircraft loss every 30,000 hours,” Quin responded. In October this year the UK’s F-35B fleet passed 10,000 flight hours over the lifetime of the programme.
Following the crash, a vast recovery effort has been initiated in order to recover the airframe, if still whole, or as much of the wreckage as possible in order to prevent it falling into the hands of potential rivals. Russia is known…
