WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s air force has announced a temporary halt in its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after the reports of U.S. concerns about defects in pilot ejection systems.
The announcement came after Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, chief of the regime’s air force, held a situation assessment meeting following the “information received from the U.S. regarding an inspection for a defect in the ejection mechanism in the pilot’s seat in the F-35 aircraft.”
The F-35 jets will undergo inspections that will last a few days, and any operational tasks will be carried out after approval from the air force chief, the Israeli Air Force said on Twitter.
The army added that the inspection process “will be carried out by technical teams, and is expected to be completed in the coming days.”
Hundreds of U.S. Air Force and Navy planes have been grounded due to a faulty part in their ejection seats, a major safety concern if a pilot would need to suddenly eject from the aircraft.
The issues first became public on Tuesday, when the Navy grounded an undisclosed number of F/A-18 Hornets, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G war planes, as well as T-45 Goshawk and F-5 Tiger II training aircraft, U.S.-based military.com news outlet reported.
The service made the decision to ground the warplanes “after being notified of [a] potential defect by the vendor,” it declared. The manufacturer of the ejection seats is the UK-based Martin-Baker company that specializes in ejection gear for foreign and U.S. aircraft.
According to the report, Martin-Baker flagged its cartridge-actuated devices -- explosive components used to launch an ejection seat out of the cockpit -- as the issue, conceding that certain lots of those devices don’t work properly and need to be replaced.
The problem is also affecting the U.S. Air Force, the report added, noting that Air Combat Command (ACC) confirmed in a statement on Friday that “it is standing down its fleet of F-35A Lightning II jets due to the Martin-Baker defect.” On July 19, it began a 90-day inspection of all the components in its aircraft.