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Leon Panetta backs Joint Strike Fighter program: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the F-35B variant of the Joint Strike Fighter was coming off its probation during a Jan. 20 appearance at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. (Defense Department video)
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PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has taken the Marine Corps’ prized F-35B short takeoff vertical landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter off “probation,” the top Pentagon leader told a crowd of Navy testers.
Panetta said the F-35B, now in testing, had improved its performance in the year since the former Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered the effort placed under scrutiny because of a host of technical problems.
George Little, Pentagon press secretary, said that he couldn’t comment on whether F-35B production will now ramp up faster. But he said the variant has caught up with the Air Force and Navy versions.
A senior Defense official added that the capabilities of the B-model had particularly impressed the secretary. The AV-8B Harrier, which similar offers similar STOVL capabilities has proven useful fighting terrorists in the Middle East, he said.
Panetta said that aircraft, like the F-35, represents the type of advanced technology a smaller U.S. military will need.
“I welcome the Secretary of Defense’s announcement removing the F-35B Lightning II from “probation” and granting it full status commensurate with the other two variants of the Joint Strike Fighter, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos said in a statement. “I continue to be encouraged by the strong and steady progress that the F-35B team has made over the past year.
“As the F-35B program continues to mature, I want to reconfirm my commitment to the Department of Defense’s leadership and to Congress that the introduction of the F-35B into our fleet training squadrons and combat units will be done responsibly based on the merits of the test program, subsequent satisfactory progress in the operational evaluation, and the integrity of the airframe design itself,” he added. “As the principal service chief responsible for the fielding and operational employment of the short take-off-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35, I will continue to closely monitor the jet’s progress on a daily basis, as I have over the past 13 months.”
