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Pentagon Grounds F-35 Fleet after Runway Fire

Posted at 4:25 AM, Jul 04, 2014
and last updated 2014-07-04 04:25:59-04
fighters grounded

Courtesy: United States Navy

WASHINGTON (July 4, 2014 – CNN) — The Pentagon has made the call to ground the F-35 fleet after a recent runway fire at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Details on the fire, which occurred June 23, were not immediately available.

“The root cause of the incident remains under investigation. Additional inspections of F-35 engines have been ordered, and return to flight will be determined based on inspection results and analysis of engineering data,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Thursday.

Last year, the U.S. military grounded the F-35 fighter jet because of a crack in an engine component that was discovered during a routine inspection in California.