What is frankenjet: The US Air Force has created a new aircraft. Its name is ‘Frankanjet’. They have made it by adding parts of two spoiled fighter jets. This is the first time in the world. This work has been done by the US Air Force after many years of efforts. The Army’s F-35 program office has said that ‘Franknjet’ is now ready to work completely. It can also be used in war.
According to CBS News, the F-35 program office of the Air Force thought of making ‘Franknajet’ in 2022. This jet has been made from parts of two such fighter jets which were damaged in accidents. The first jet was damaged in 2014. There was a problem of engine in it. The second jet deteriorated in 2020. There was a problem in his landing gear.
How did it become?
According to CNN, the first jet was F-35A. It was flying from the Aglin Air Force Base in Florida. Then his engine deteriorated badly. The back of this jet was burnt too much. Investigations revealed that a broken part of the engine had come out of the engine. Due to this, many parts inside the jet such as fuel tanks and pipelines were cut.
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The second jet was AF-211. It was on Utah’s Hill Air Force Base. Its further landing gear was not working properly. This caused a lot of damage to it. In this way, the Air Force had two different poor fighter jets. The front of the first jet was fine and the second jet. Both jets were about $ 75 million and were not usable.
The idea of creating ‘franknjet’ came so that the cost of repairing spoiled military aircraft can be reduced.
How did the idea of making ‘Franknajet’?
The idea of making ‘franknjet’ came so that the cost of repairing spoiled military aircraft can be reduced and waste is also reduced. According to a report by the F-35 program office, instead of declaring both the jets as useless, the teams took a big decision in 2022. He thought of connecting the front part of the first jet to the back of the second jet. Money could be saved from this and a current aircraft could be found.
According to CBS, the Air Force worked on this project with the 388th fighter Wing Maintenance Group and Lockheed Martin Company. He first took the front of AF-27 and added it to the back of AF-211. This work was done on Hill Air Force Base. New types of special equipment and machines were used for this.
F-35 repair team engineer Tomas Barber said that the work of this project was very big and difficult, but he crossed all the difficulties. The US Air Force called this work “for the first time and impossible work”. Scott Taylor, a big engineer at Lockheed Martin, told CNN that although parts of any aircraft can be separated and connected again, but this had never happened before F-35 before. He said, “This is the first F-35 ‘Frankan-Bird’. This is history.”
How much did it cost?
This entire project took less than two years. It cost about 11.7 million US dollars. This was 2.8 million US dollars lower than estimated. The Defense Department saved a total of 63 million US dollars due to ‘Franknjet’. ‘Frankanjet’ took off his first Test in January 2025. The flight ran from Hill Air Force Base to Lockheed Martin’s factory in Texas.
According to the Air Force Times, the aircraft was followed by the last maintenance in Texas. In March, the aircraft came back to the Hill Air Force Base and joined the 338th fighter wing. This is the same unit in which AF-211 was earlier. Jeffrey Jensen, head of the F-35A program, told the Air Force Times that it was flown with full capacity in the first flight of this aircraft. It was working like a completely new aircraft. He said, “Soon this aircraft will return to service completely. It will be ready to protect the country and it will save a lot of money from tax payers.”