Jet Rebuilt For $11.7 Million, Saving USAF And Taxpayers $63 Million

It’s one thing to cannibalize a damaged aircraft for parts to repair other ones, but it’s quite another to take two substantially damaged jets – basically destined for the scrap heap – and fashion them into one fully operational F-35 Lightning II. But that’s exactly what the Air Force did. And in the process it built a new (sort of) jet for just $11.7 million, saving taxpayers a cool $63 million.

The Air Force recently unveiled a fully operational f-35 built out of the remains of two aircraft from Florida and Utah and affectionately(?) nicknamed the “Frankenjet.”

The work was performed over two and a half years at Hill Air Force Base, north of Salt Lake City in Utah. Parts from the aft section of an F-35A damaged during a landing at Hill in 2020 was combined with the forward section of a jet damaged in a 2014 fire at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Rather than discard both aircraft, which cost $75 million each, the “new” F-35 Lightning II was built at a cost of $11.7 million using salvaged parts from the two jets. The rebuilt aircraft flew for the first time in January 2025, and has been returned to service assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill AFB.

Tomas Barber, an F-35 Joint Program Office major mishap repair team engineer, said in a statement from the Office, “The scope and complexity of this project was an exemplary demonstration of overcoming barriers and achieving a greater tier of major aircraft repair capability for an advanced tactical fighter.”

The F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement on April 9, “‘Frankenjet’ is fully operational and ready to support the warfighter.”

“This is the first F-35 ‘Franken-bird’ to date. This is history,” said Lockheed Martin engineer Scott Taylor. Lockheed collaborated with the Joint Program Office on the project.

Hill AFB has become a sort of “body shop” for jets severely damaged. The aircraft and parts are used to train airmen and when possible, give jets a second life with repairs.

FMI:  www.jsf.mil/