The F-35 Joint Program Office told services a fuel tube failure may have caused an F-35B's crash, which has now led to some fighters being grounded. The so-called "safety pause" began Friday but was not announced by the Navy until Tuesday. The Air Force is finding workarounds to keep carrying out mobility missions while many C-130Hs are grounded due to concerns over propeller assembly cracks. It's uncertain how long it will take Air Mobility Command to replace all the defective propeller assemblies that have grounded most C-130H planes. Air Force Special Operations Command has begun investigating what is causing the clutches in the aircraft to slip. Service technicians inspected 706 cartridges from 349 F-35s, as well as additional supplies of spare cartridges. “Grounding at this speed and depth had the potential for more serious injuries, fatalities, and even loss of the ship,” the investigation stated. The Air Force is beginning to return B-1B bombers to the air after grounding the entire fleet April 20. Air Force Global Strike Command indefinitely grounded the service’s 57 active B-1B Lancers amid safety concerns April 20. Around 80 percent of F-35 jets have been cleared of an issue that grounded the fleet last week. By Valerie Insinna
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