honeywell to test some f-35 parts after smoke incident

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-
The Pentagon said Monday that,
35 The test aircraft participated in the incident that led to smoke in the cockpit on February 14 and sent the affected components back to its manufacturer Honeywell International for detailed inspection.
Kyra Hawn, a $396 billion spokeswoman (
261 billion)F-
35 The Joint Strike Fighter program says a preliminary assessment of the incident at the Maryland Air Force base shows that the program is isolated and software
The impact is minimal.
The Pentagon has made temporary changes to prevent another smoke incident, she said.
The news of the previously unreported incident was in the United States. S.
Military officials ordered the entire fleet of Lockheed Martin to be grounded.
After discovering 0 this year, 35 jets.
6 inch cracks on fan blades in a single injection of another test aircraft.
A spokesman for Pratt & Whitney, an engine manufacturer owned by United Technologies, said the blade assembly arrived at the company\'s Middletown in Connecticut, and the facilities and engineering team on Sunday night were checking it.
Honeywell manufactured the \"power thermal management system\" of the aircraft, which uses lithium-
The ion battery is similar to the battery that Boeing\'s entire fleet of 787 aircraft was grounded due to a failure, but Hawn said the incident of February 14 was similar to the F-35’s lithium-ion batteries.
\"It has nothing to do with lithium --
Ion batteries . \"
She said that the incident of February 14 was the only one in F-
In the recent history of the show.
Lockheed is building three new types of radar.
Escape fighters to replace nearly a dozen fighters being used by the United StatesS.
The military and its allies.
The Pentagon plans to buy 2,447 advanced fighter jets in the coming decades.
Honeywell said it would inspect the system, which manages F-
35 fuselage, once it reaches the company\'s Phoenix testing facility. The U. S.
On January 16, after two battery failures, the FAA stopped flying Boeing\'s 787 aircraft, one of which caused the crew to land in Japan after finding smoke in the cockpit.
Boeing\'s biggest competitor, Airbus, a subsidiary of Europe\'s EADS, decided not to use lithium after the event-
Ion batteries for the new A350 aircraft.
But the Pentagon said earlier this month it would continue using lithium.
Ion battery on F-
35 because they are made by different manufacturers, not by manufacturers used on 787, and are found to be safe after extensive testing.
Hawn said a preliminary assessment of events involving BF in February 14
2, one of the short take-off of the Marine Corps, the vertical landing variant, links the problem with the software problem, not the hardware problem of the auxiliary power unit.
She said that the entire temperature management system would be sent to Honeywell in order to conduct a more careful inspection and development of permanent fixtures, noting that the aircraft was conducting development tests to specifically identify any such problems.
\"This is the purpose of testing, development and initial training for any project --
\"Identify differences, develop fixes and put them in place to ensure operational safety,\" she said . \" She added that the preliminary assessment indicated that \"the risk was minimal ,(a)
The resolution is relatively simple.
Honeywell spokesman Nathan Drevna said the system would be inspected once it arrived at the Phoenix plant.
\"The pilot landed safely. The Honeywell-
\"Related products will be shipped to our testing facility so that we can quickly check and identify the next steps with our customers,\" Drevna said . \".
Michael Rein, spokesman for Lockheed, said there was no indication of lithium
Involving ion batteries, the battery is not from F-
For further review.
\"There is no evidence that lithium-ion batteries were a contributor to the incident,\" he said . \" He added, \"no battery failure was observed at any time. ” One U. S.
Defense officials familiar with the incident said,
35 The pilot reported that when the warning light was on, he followed the procedure to stop and restart the auxiliary power unit and there was \"trace smoke\" in the cockpit \".
The pilot then stopped the test flight and landed safely at the base, but never announced
The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that there was an emergency in the flight and added, \"there was no fire associated with a smoke incident.
The official said: \"The procedure has now been changed so that the pilot does not restart the backup power unit during the flight.
Honeywell\'s Drevna says the temperature control unit is part of a larger integrated power pack (IPP)
Also manufactured by Honeywell, which uses 270-volt lithium-
Start the ion Battery of the engine and provide an emergency backup power supply.
Only the temperature control system is sent back to Honeywell.
Lockheed said that at the time of the incident on February 14, the power and thermal systems did not use the battery, and the battery was checked as fully functional after the accident. flight review.
IPP also runs according to the design, he said.
The faulty valve in the larger IPP system will F-
The Pentagon said on Monday that it was a separate issue within two weeks of August 2011.