The F-35 Just Celebrated A Major Milestone – Critics Are Not Happy About This One

The F-35 Just Celebrated A Major Milestone – Critics Are Not Happy About This One | World War Wings Videos

(DAVID MCNEW/AFP/Getty Images)

Big Things.

The Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II is no stranger to controversy and setbacks during its lengthy development period. Anything that can go wrong did go wrong as the program went over budget, experienced malfunctions which could be fatal to pilots and countless other problems. Despite the obstacles along the way the F-35 just hit a milestone that it can truly be proud of, it hit 100,000 flight hours without a crash.

“This 100K milestone marks a significant level of maturity for the program and the F-35 weapons system. We are well positioned to complete air vehicle full 3F and mission systems software development by the end of 2017.”

– Jeff Babione (F-35 Program General Manager)

Hitting 100,000 flight hours without a crash is actually a very significant feat compared to other fighters. Statistics show that at the 100,000 flight hour mark the F-15 Eagle had 2.36 accidents, the F-16 had 3.45, the F-18 with 2.84 and the F-22 with a much higher 5.49 accidents.

Critics of the F-35 aren’t particularly happy about this because it shows that this controversial fighter on track to be one of the safest fighters in history. It is nice the pilots are in no immediate danger, but those opposed to the F-35 program were dealt a major blow with this one.

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