RAF's grounded its own F-35 fighter jet fleet after training flight crash in US; experts blame faulty fuel line

UK’s Royal Air Force has grounded its own 120 million pounds F-35 fighter jets after a crash of a US jet. Experts have made the initial cause of the jet’s crash to be a faulty fuel line.

The aircraft which have already been purchased by the UK back in June has sent their jets for examination if they also have faulty fuel lines or not. They were prompted for this action after the crash of a US Marine Corps F-35B back in September.

The US jet went down on the same day near the military base located in South Carolina as the first of UK‘s F-35B jets arrived on the HMS Queen Elizabeth. The pilot of the US jet managed to eject on time.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of UK said to media that, Security is our top concern and this is why UK has stopped its preliminary testing of the F-35 flights. We are currently examining to check if our jets have the same issue or not”.

He further added to the statement, “We are still planning to resume the F-35 flight trials from the HMS Queen Elizabeth as this will provide our armed forces with a great game changing firepower”.

The UK has already made a deal for purchasing 138 of these fighter jets. Currently, the RAF holds 15 of these stealth fighter jets in its arsenal. Some of the aircraft have already been tested and inspected for faults. They have been made available for the flight.

UK brought these planes from the US in the last few months. First four for these 15 aircraft have been bought for a high price of 120 million pounds each. They are currently based at RAF Marham base located in Norfolk.