Pentagon Mulls Restoring F-35 Safety Gear to Reduce Risk

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-07/pentagon-mulls-restoring-f-35-safety-gear-to-reduce-risk.html

Pentagon Mulls Restoring F-35 Safety Gear to Reduce Risk
By Tony Capaccio - 2013-02-08T05:00:01Z

The Pentagon may restore safety equipment on Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 fighter after an analysis found that removing the gear to save weight made the jets more vulnerable to enemy fire.

The equipment, removed in 2008, weighs about 43 pounds (20 kilograms.) It includes a two-pound valve intended to shut off the flow of a flammable liquid.

Computer analysis last year of the pared-down F-35 design determined that the aircraft’s vulnerability to fires ignited by enemy bullets or missile fragments increased 25 percent over a 2008 assessment before the equipment’s removal, according to data from the Pentagon’s weapons testing office.

“If the aircraft is hit, it will be 25 percent more vulnerable to” onboard fires “and overall more vulnerable than most” older aircraft it’s replacing, Jennifer Elzea, a spokeswoman for the testing office, said in an e-mail.