US suspends F-35 ground, air tests after device failure

The U.S. Defense Department suspended fleetwide ground and flight test operations on Wednesday of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, its costliest arms purchase and largest international cooperative program.

The department acted after the failure on Tuesday of one aircraft's "integrated power package", a turbo-machine that starts the engine and cools the plane, the Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office said.

The office said in a statement that the suspension was a precautionary measure until experts understand the root causes of the failure aboard an F-35 conventional takeoff and landing variant at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Read more