Marine Corps F-35B short-takeoff and vertical-landing jets remained grounded on Tuesday, days after the F-35 program office halted their flight operations following an anomaly during a training flight at Eglin AFB, Fla., according to press reports. “We’ll return the STOVL variant to flight once any causal and contributing factors are understood and mitigated,” said F-35 program office spokesman Joe DellaVedova, reported Reuters on Tuesday (via FoxNews). The grounding affects all 25 F-35B test and training jets at locations across the nation. A fuel line connected to the F-35B’s exhaust system failed on a jet prior to takeoff during a Jan. 16 sortie at Eglin; the pilot aborted without incident, reported Reuters on Jan. 18. Air Force F-35As and Navy F-35Cs are still flying.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…