WASHINGTON: The Pentagon said on Thursday it would resume flights of its F-35 fighter jets following a week-long precautionary grounding imposed after a crack was found on an engine blade on a test plane in California.
"F-35 flight operations have been cleared to resume," Pentagon spokeswoman Kyra Hawn said in a statement. She said flights could begin as early as Friday, depending on weather conditions.
No additional cracks were found during inspections of engines on the remaining 50 planes in the Pentagon's fleet, or any spare engines, Hawn said.
The order allowing flights to resume is good news for the $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's biggest weapons program which is bracing for big cutbacks when automatic across-the-board budget cuts take effect on Friday.
It comes two days after the Pentagon's F-35 program chief blasted enginemaker Pratt & Whitney and prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp for trying to "squeeze every nickel" out of the Pentagon and not shouldering enough risk on the program.
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