
A new Defense Department report found the F-35B’s short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) system could suffer catastrophic failure due to fragment-induced damage of a lift fan blade. The fiscal year 2013 annual report from the office of Pentagon Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) Michael Gilmore, released Wednesday to Congress, said ballistic tests on an F-35B STOVL propulsion system showed that single fragment damage to the lift fan did not degrade propulsion system performance. But analyses showed that…