WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps said on Friday it was resuming flights of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 B-model jets that were suspended after a fire on an Air Force F-35A jet earlier this week, and still planned to send F-35 jets to Britain for their international debut next month.
"The Marine Corps will resume F-35B flight operations today. We are continuing with our plans to deploy to the UK next month," said Marine Corps spokesman Captain Richard Ulsh.
Three F-35B jets were due to fly on Friday from a Marine Corps base in Yuma, Arizona, to an air base in southern Maryland, according to sources familiar with the program.
The jets are to be serviced and readied for their first trans-Atlantic flights this weekend or early next week.
The Marine Corps had halted flights of its F-35 jets after a fire broke out in the rear of an Air Force F-35 A-model on Monday as the pilot was preparing to take off for a training flight.
Engine pieces were found on the runway at the Florida air base where the jet caught fire, according to sources familiar with the situation. The A-model jets have a different engine than the B- and C-model jets flown by the Marine Corps and the Navy.
The engines are built by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp,
The Air Force on Thursday suspended flights of all F-35 A-model jets while it investigates the fire.
The fire and flight suspensions raised concerns that the Marine Corps jets would not be able to deploy to Britain. But officials determined that it would be safe to resume flights of the B-model jets, said one of the sources, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Matthew Bates, a spokesman for Pratt & Whitney, said his company was ready to assist in the Air Force investigation.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese and Dan Grebler)
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/u-marines-resume-f-35b-flights-fire-still-194824251--finance.html
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