“US Air Force Adds ‘Frankenjet’ Stealth Fighter Built from Two Crashed Warplanes to Its Fleet”

The U.S. Air Force has officially welcomed a unique addition to its fleet — a stealth fighter known as the “Frankenjet,” assembled from the remains of two wrecked F-35s and now declared fully mission-ready.

“‘Frankenjet’ is fully operational and ready to support the warfighter,” the military’s F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) confirmed in a report released Wednesday.

The aircraft’s origin story begins in 2014, when an F-35A designated AF-27 experienced a “catastrophic engine failure” during takeoff at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. According to an Air Force investigation, fragments from a fractured engine rotor arm tore through critical components — the engine bay, an internal fuel tank, and fuel and hydraulic lines — before erupting through the jet’s upper fuselage. The resulting fire devastated the rear two-thirds of the aircraft.

Then, in 2020, another F-35A — tail number AF-211 — suffered a nose gear collapse while landing at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. That accident heavily damaged the front end of the aircraft.

With the nose section of one jet and the rear of another still intact, the Air Force saw an opportunity. Engineers combined the undamaged components from both $75 million aircraft to create one operational fighter — a Frankenstein-like fusion that earned it the nickname “Frankenjet.”

“Rather than writing off both jets as total losses, the team made a bold decision in 2022 to remove the nose from AF-27 and attach it to AF-211 — maximizing cost savings and restoring an operational aircraft to the fleet,” the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) stated in its report.

Scott Taylor, lead mechanical engineer at Lockheed Martin, the F-35’s manufacturer, highlighted the significance of the project in a 2023 news release.

“In theory, all aircraft sections can be detached and reattached — but it had never been attempted before,” Taylor said. “This is the first F-35 ‘Franken-bird’ ever built. It’s history in the making.”

The pioneering work took place at Hill Air Force Base and required the creation of entirely new and highly specialized tools, fixtures, and equipment, according to the Air Force’s 2023 press release.

After nearly two and a half years of meticulous reconstruction, the “Frankenjet” took to the skies for the first time in January, flying from Hill Air Force Base in Utah to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 facility in Fort Worth, Texas.

“The rebuilt aircraft’s first flight pushed the limits of its performance envelope — and it handled like it had just rolled off the production line,” said Jeffrey Jensen, lead engineer for the F-35A variant, in a press release.

In late March, the aircraft returned to Hill AFB, where it was officially reassigned to the 388th Fighter Wing — the same unit that originally operated AF-211, one of the jets used to build it.

The entire project cost $11.7 million, saving the Pentagon and taxpayers an estimated $63 million compared to the price of a brand-new F-35, according to a military statement.

The U.S. Air Force currently fields 383 F-35As — the conventional takeoff and landing variant of the stealth fighter. Two other versions are also in service: the F-35B, used by the Marine Corps for short takeoff and vertical landings, and the F-35C, designed for Navy carrier operations.

Beyond U.S. forces, the F-35 has become a staple of global air power, with 17 allied nations either flying or procuring the advanced jet, according to Lockheed Martin.