Joint US-Korea Team Resurrects Belly Landed F-35 With World-First Wing Repair

Both the U.S. F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) and South Korea have accomplished a world first by returning an extensively damaged Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF) F-35A onto its wings and have converted it for ground training purposes.

A bird strike in 2022 during the flight resulted in the jet belly landing and needing an emergency landing. Because it could not be returned to service, the Korean air force now uses it for maintenance training, modeling their decision after the U.S. practice of bringing two wrecked F-35s back to life as one aircraft.

Moving the jet after it grounded proved to be difficult. Its broad wings complicated and lowered the ease of traveling on roads. Lockheed Martin, the US Air Force, the US Navy, and South Korean engineers planned and carried out a first-of-its-kind process to remove and fit the F-35’s wings for the first time.

“This part of the work was major, as no one had ever done this before,” Matt Trodden said. What’s more, the team met the deadline early, and the technique has since become a part of the F-35’s official service protocol.

After the “Frankenjet” arrangement, where AF-211 was repaired by adding AF-27’s front section, the success in Japan shows another example of such operations. The 388th Fighter Wing is now using that aircraft for missions, which saves the government $63 million.

All of these projects highlight the new approaches being used in F-35 maintenance and recovery, reaching higher standards than anywhere else in the world.