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The long-running, super-expensive F-35 fighter jet program suffered its first casualty Friday when one of the $100m aircrafts crashed in South Carolina for “unknown reasons.” While the pilot managed to eject without injury, the incident doesn’t look great for the Lockheed Martin effort, which has been criticized for lack of performance and safety.
The crash came on the same day that the Pentagon announced an $11.5 billion contract for 141 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed, which lowers the price for the most common version of the stealthy jet by 5.4 percent. The plane in the South Carolina crash was one of 245 F-35 fighter jets in the U.S. military, a Pentagon official said, and one of a total of 320 F-35 jets being flown around the world.
The crash came on the same day that the Pentagon announced an $11.5 billion contract for 141 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed, which lowers the price for the most common version of the stealthy jet by 5.4 percent. The plane in the South Carolina crash was one of 245 F-35 fighter jets in the U.S. military, a Pentagon official said, and one of a total of 320 F-35 jets being flown around the world.