The F-35’s Engine Is a Bit Busted Right Now
Between cracked turbine blades and slow repair periods, things aren't going so great.
By Kyle Mizokami FEB 18, 2021
PopularMechanic
The Pentagon says a slowdown in the delivery of F-35 fighter jet engines could sideline scores of Air Force F-35As by 2025.
The F135 engine is experiencing longer repair periods, and high temperatures are producing cracks in turbine blades.
These problems have forced the Air Force to reduce appearances by the service’s F-35 air show team.
The U.S. Air Force’s F-35 fighter fleet is running into yet another problem: a shortage of engines.
Five years after declaring the F-35 ready for combat, the Air Force is discovering the aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine takes longer to maintain than originally projected. A heat-related issue is also causing cracks in the F135’s fan blade coatings. If left unchecked, the problem could reportedly ground up to 20 percent of the Air Force’s F-35s by 2025.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a single-engine jet fighter designed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat. The F-35’s engine, the F135 afterburning turbofan, produces 28,000 pounds of thrust, or 43,000 pounds of thrust with afterburner on. The F135 powers the entire F-35 fleet, including the Marine Corps’ short vertical takeoff and landing -B model, allowing the aircraft to take off vertically if needed.
F-135 pratt whitney f 35
An F135 engine undergoing testing.
U.S. AIR FORCE
The F135 Heavy Maintenance Center at Tinker Air Force Base isn’t processing engines and getting them out to the jet fleet as fast as anticipated, Bloomberg reports. The problem is exacerbated by the engines being run at higher temperatures than originally planned, leading to several engines developing cracks in the coatings of their turbine blades. Maintainers are replacing these blades as they discover them