WASHINGTON — The Air Force is reviewing decades-old contracts to determine whether manufacturers of U.S. fighter jets bear responsibility for a defect that caused one of the planes to break apart in mid-flight late last year, officials said Thursday.
An investigation of the November crash of an F-15 showed that one of several support beams in the plane was thinner than had been required by the design specifications. That faulty part caused a catastrophic failure that split the plane in two.
The downed plane was built in 1980 by McDonnell Douglas Corp., which merged with the Boeing Co. in 1997. Boeing officials participated in the crash investigation and helped identify the structural failure that led to the mishap, Air Force officials said.
But Patricia Frost, a spokeswoman for Boeing’s F-15 business, declined to comment on the Air Force investigation of the crash. The company is waiting for the final analysis of the approximately 180 F-15s that remain grounded.
Air Force officials said Boeing’s potential liability is difficult to determine because of a complex contracting history and the age of the aircraft.
“Our question will be, ‘What was the contractual arrangement at the time and is there still residual liability?’ ” Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, the Air Force’s top acquisition officer, told reporters Thursday. “We have to prove that the flaw had significance.”
F-15s originally were designed to last 4,000 flight hours, then were upgraded to last 8,000 flight hours. The F-15 that crashed had been flown for 6,000 flight hours.
The Air Force grounded all F-15s after the November crash. The newest planes, the Model E, were quickly returned to service, but 441 older models remained grounded until Wednesday, when the Air Force returned about 260 of the older models to service.
The Air Force said the planes that remain out of service have flaws in a crucial support component called a longeron, a structural beam that serves as part of the spine of the aircraft. F-15s have four longerons around the cockpit.
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