Pentagon weapons tester slams F-35B’s shipboard operational testing trial

The F-35B carried out its first and only shipboard operational testing trial aboard USS Wasp from May 18-25. The Pentagon’s top weapons tester later said the test was so flawed that it “did not — and could not — demonstrate that the … F-35B is operationally effective or suitable for use in any type of limited combat operation.”

By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Seaman Natasha R. Chalk [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Project on Government Oversight obtained the memo written by J. Michael Gilmore, Director of the Operational Test and Evaluation Directorate, via the Freedom of Information Act recently.

Source: Pentagon weapons tester slams F-35B’s shipboard operational testing trial