US orders mandatory inspections for F-35s after engine issue

[WASHINGTON] The US military has ordered mandatory inspections of all Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets before further flights after a Marine Corps F-35B model suffered an in-flight emergency last week, a Pentagon spokesman said on Sunday.

Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the F-35 programme office, said that the inspections were ordered late on Friday but that a majority of the 97 F-35s in the fleet - 69 operational jets used for training and 28 test aircraft - had already been inspected and cleared to resume flights on Monday.

He said that the inspections, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, were focused on the oil flow management valve fitting on all F135 engines, which are built by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp. The valve provides oil flow to the engine bearing compartments.