WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon said on Monday an F-35 test plane was involved in an incident on February 14 that caused smoke in the cockpit, and it was sending the affected parts back to their manufacturer, Honeywell International Inc, for a detailed inspection.

Kyra Hawn, spokeswoman for the $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, said an initial assessment of the incident at a Maryland air base showed it was isolated, software-related, and posed minimal risk. Interim changes had been implemented to prevent another smoke incident, she said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) – The Pentagon said on Monday
an F-35 test plane was involved in an incident on Feb. 14 that
caused smoke in the cockpit, and it was sending the affected
parts back to their manufacturer, Honeywell International Inc
, for a detailed inspection.

Kyra Hawn, spokeswoman for the $396 billion F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter program, said an initial assessment of the
incident at a Maryland air base showed it was isolated,
software-related, and posed minimal risk. Interim changes had
been implemented to prevent another smoke incident, she said.

CANBERRA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – This year’s second grounding of Lockheed Martin Corp’s vaunted F-35 warplane, plus looming U.S. defense cuts, are likely to complicate a push this week by Lockheed and U.S. officials to convince wary Australian lawmakers and generals to stick to a plan to buy 100 of the jets.

Australia, a close American ally, is considering doubling its fleet of 24 Boeing Co F/A-18 Super Hornets amid delays and setbacks in Lockheed’s $396 billion F-35 project.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The engine blade crack that prompted the U.S. military to ground all 51 F-35 fighter jets was over half an inch long, according to three sources familiar with the matter, but it remained unclear if the crack was caused by a manufacturing anomaly or some larger design issue.

Engineers at Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, will conduct a detailed examination of the turbine blade as soon as it arrives at the company’s Middletown, Connecticut, site, said spokesman Matthew Bates.

WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) – The engine blade crack that
prompted the U.S. military to ground all 51 F-35 fighter jets
was over half an inch long, according to three sources familiar
with the matter, but it remained unclear if the crack was caused
by a manufacturing anomaly or some larger design issue.

Engineers at Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies
Corp, will conduct a detailed examination of the turbine
blade as soon as it arrives at the company’s Middletown,
Connecticut, site, said spokesman Matthew Bates.

WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) – Boeing Co gave U.S. aviation regulators its plan to fix the volatile battery aboard its new 787 Dreamliner on Friday, even before investigators know what caused the batteries to overheat on two planes last month.

Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will not propose abandoning the lithium-ion batteries, however, and is not working on a backup or longer-term fix for the problem that has grounded its entire fleet of 50 787 Dreamliners, three sources familiar with the plan said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – The Pentagon on Friday
suspended the flights of all 51 F-35 fighter planes after a
routine inspection revealed a crack on a turbine blade in the
jet engine of an F-35 test aircraft in California.

It was the second grounding of the warplane in two months
and marked another setback for the $396 billion F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon’s biggest weapons program.
The program has already been restructured three times in recent
years and may face further cutbacks if Congress does not avert
major budget reductions due to take effect on March 1.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon on Friday suspended the flights of all 51 F-35 fighter planes after a routine inspection revealed a crack on a turbine blade in the jet engine of an F-35 test aircraft in California.

It was the second grounding of the warplane in two months and marked another setback for the $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon’s biggest weapons program. The program has already been restructured three times in recent years and may face further cutbacks if Congress does not avert major budget reductions due to take effect on March 1.

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A senior Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) executive will meet with the head of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Friday and present a series of measures aimed at preventing battery failures that grounded its 787 Dreamliner fleet for five weeks, according to a source familiar with the plans.

Ray Conner, who heads Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit, will explain the proposed changes to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta on Friday, but the plans have already been vetted with lower level U.S. government officials, the source said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – CACI International Inc
on Wednesday announced a second major leadership shift
in less than a year, replacing Chief Executive Dan Allen with a
former Lockheed Martin Corp executive who caught the
company’s eye by helping his unit achieve a 75-percent new
business win rate.

CACI Chairman Jack London told Reuters the company’s board
decided to replace Allen and hire Kenneth Asbury as CEO and
president as part of a strategic realignment aimed at more
aggressively competing for new contracts and retaining existing
business, especially given the budget challenges facing the U.S.
government.