A fighter jet stitched together from different parts of two separate F-35s that were wrecked in accidents. The U.S. Air Force calls the newly constructed jet “Frankenjet.” According to the Air Force, “Frankenjet” is on duty and combat-ready.

Frankenjet

The F-35A Lightning II, dubbed a “Frankenjet"
The F-35A Lightning II dubbed a “Frankenjet;” Photo: Capt. Nathan Poblete/US Air Force

In 2014, an F-35A suffered a “catastrophic engine failure” before taking off for a training mission at Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base. The fighter jet, known as AF-27, also suffered damage to its rear. Then on June 8, 2020, another F-35A, known as AF-211, suffered severe damage when the nose landing gear failed on landing at Hill Air Force Base (AFB) in Utah.

As a result, the Air Force was left with two useable pieces from two $75 million fighter jets. They had the nose of AF-27 and the rear of AF-211.

“Rather than writing off both jets as a loss … teams made a bold decision in 2022 to remove the nose from AF-27 and put it onto AF-211 to maximize savings and add back an operational aircraft to the fleet,” a report from the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) said.

Scott Taylor, lead mechanical engineer for manufacturer Lockheed Martin, explained the project in a 2023 press release.

“All of the aircraft sections can be de-mated and re-mated theoretically, but it’s just never been done before,” Taylor said. “This is the first F-35 ‘Frankin-bird’ to date. This is history.”

According to CNN, the repairs took almost two and a half years. In January, the Frankenjet flew for the first time from Hill AFB to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Thus the F-35A Lightning II, or “Frankenjet,” was born.

Cutting Costs

“The rebuilt aircraft’s first flight was flown to the edges of the performance envelope, and it performed like it was fresh from the initial production line,” Jeffrey Jensen, the F-35A variant lead engineer, said in a press release.

According to CNN, the “Frankenjet” was flown back to Hill AFB. The reconstructed jet is reportedly assigned to the same unit AF-211 had originally belonged to.

According to a military statement, the project cost $11.7 million, which reportedly saves the Pentagon and taxpayers $63 million.