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'This is a beastly airplane': US F-35s at Paris Air Show seek to reassure NATO of US power, commitment

PARIS — When the stealthy, high-tech F-35 tears through Paris skies on its first-ever acrobatic displays this week, the fighter jet will also be sending a message: NATO allies, the United States is still on your side.

PARIS (AP) — When the stealthy hi-tech F-35 tears through Paris skies on its first-ever acrobatic displays this week, the fighter jet will also be sending a message: NATO allies, the United States is still on your side.

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An aviation boatswain's mate maneuvers BF-04, front, the US Marine Corps variant of the F-35B, after a vertical landing aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp. US Navy

In an Associated Press interview at the opening Monday of the Paris Air Show, Brig. Gen. Select Todd Canterbury said the displays of the new jet were to "showcase the capability to all of our European partners and NATO allies" and "to reassure them that we are committed to NATO 100 percent and that we have got the capability to respond to any action necessary."

Canterbury, the director of the Air Force F-35 Integration Office at the Pentagon, also spoke about recent problems that grounded F-35s at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

US President Donald Trump has called NATO obsolete, and he excoriated European allies last month for not spending enough on their defenses.

Since May 2, F-35 pilots on five occasions have reported symptoms of hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, Canterbury said. The Air Force says the F-35's backup oxygen system worked in each instance, and the pilot was able to land the plane safely.

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"It could range to anything from headaches to nausea to color-blindness," Canterbury told the AP.

Planes were subsequently grounded at Luke. A team of engineers, test pilots, medics, and others experts are "digging into this problem 24 hours a day" to try to identify the cause, Canterbury said.

"It could be lack of oxygen," he said. "It could be too much oxygen, too much carbon dioxide."

There have been similar incidents "across a number of bases, but not in clusters like we saw at Luke."

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The rollout of the first Japan Air Self Defense Force F-35A Lightning II. Courtesy of Lockheed Martin

The local commander at Luke will decide when the planes can fly again, Canterbury said, adding that the pilots would "start flying as soon as they can. They are ready."

Luke is a training base for F-35 pilots. Operational units have not had such issues, Canterbury said.

"It's still too early to tell the root cause," he said. "An airplane in development such as this will have teething problems."

The F-35 flew briefly at the Farnborough International Airshow last year, but this year in Paris, it will debut its aerial demonstrations.

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The daily aerobatic shows by the F-35 promise to be spectacular, punctuated by the howl of its 40,000 pounds of thrust.

"This is a beastly airplane," said chief F-35 test pilot Alan Norman.

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The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft during its first night flight near Edwards Air Force Base, California, in January 2012. US Air Force photo

After roaring off the Le Bourget Airport tarmac into a vertical climb with its afterburner, the F-35 is expected to wow with a series of loops and gravity-defying moves, showing maneuverability so catlike it can turn corners so sharp that it seems to carve squares in the sky. It is also expected to show its ability to slow down to a crawl — a trick that can force pursuers to fly past and become the hunted, and which Tom Cruise famously showed off in "Top Gun."

Eight countries are partners of the program and are taking F-35s: the UK, Australia, Italy, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, and Turkey.

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Three other nations have bought F-35s: Japan, Israel, and South Korea.

Canterbury said Germany, Belgium, and Singapore had requested information about the F-35, the first step toward potential purchases.

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Read the original article on Associated Press. Copyright 2017. Follow Associated Press on Twitter.
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