Loop and Chute

On 15 December 2022, shortly before 10:15 CST, an F-35B pending delivery to the U.S. Marine Corps was damaged in a vertical landing mishap at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NAS JRB) Fort Worth—a U.S. Navy base approximately five-nautical-miles west of Fort Worth, Texas.

After appearing to touch down normally from a low-altitude hover, the fifth-generation Short Takeoff Vertical Landing (STOVL) fighter lurched forward in a nose-low attitude, collapsing its nose landing-gear and coming abruptly to rest on its snout. The aircraft then entered a series of partial ground-loops, pivoting—more or less—about its radome and grounded starboard wing until the lone pilot ejected. Notwithstanding recent reliability concerns, the F-35’s ejection system bore the aviator cleanly and expediently from the stricken aircraft, delivering him safely to ground beneath a fully deployed parachute canopy.

White Settlement, Texas, police chief Chris Cook remarked: “When we [first responders] arrived, we were pleased that we didn’t see a big plume of smoke, nothing like that, so we felt like, ‘OK, thoughts and prayers with the pilot, maybe they’re going to be fine.’”

Chief Cook’s benevolent sentiments were borne out the following day when the pilot was released from a Texas hospital after being held overnight for what the Defense Contract Management Agency—on behalf of which the aviator was operating the F-35B—called “precautionary measures.”

The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)—a U.S. federal agency that reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment—is responsible for administering contracts for the Department of Defense (DoD) and similarly authorized federal agencies. In addition to its domestic charter, the Fort Lee, Virginia headquartered agency occasionally administers foreign military sales contracts.

In a post-incident statement, the DCMA set forth: “Our people are our number one priority and we’re grateful no one was hurt.”

Lockheed-Martin—which operates Air Force Plant 4, an assembly facility on NAS JRB Fort Worth—remarked in a statement of its own: “We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth and understand that the pilot ejected successfully. Safety is our priority, and we will follow appropriate investigation protocol.”

Air Force Plant 4 is a government-owned, contractor-operated aerospace facility at which Lockheed-Martin assembles F-16 and F-35 aircraft. The installation shares Runway 18/36 with NAS JRB Fort Worth—formerly Carswell Air Force Base. It is likely—if not certain—that the downed F-35B was undergoing pre-delivery flight testing.

On 01 December 2022, an F-35B Lightning II, belonging to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121—the Green Knights—made a precautionary landing at Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa after experiencing alleged electrical-system problems. While being towed, the fighter jet’s nose landing-gear collapsed—possibly causing serious damage to the aircraft’s pricy Electro-Optical Targeting System or EOTS.

On 08 June 2020, the nose landing-gear of an F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing at Utah’s Hill AFB collapsed after a routine landing.

In 2018, a USAF F-35A assigned to the 58th Fighter Squadron, experienced an in-flight emergency and returned to base. The aircraft landed safely and had returned to parking when its nose-landing-gear collapsed.

Whether or not the Pentagon has taken notice of the emerging pattern remains unknown.

FMI: www.lockheedmartin.com