"Several" Lancers have temporarily moved to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, to maintain readiness.
A handheld flashlight was sucked into the F-35's inlet engine during a maintenance ground run.
“If I’m flying around in my fighter,” Col. Tucker Hamilton said, “I can imagine a world where I have multiple drones able to conduct some missions.”
Maj. Eric "Doc" Spendlove's body remains missing.
Lancer flights are on hold until at least Jan. 19.
"We learned a lot of skills that were multi-capable back in the late 1980s that we are now dusting off."
The mishap is the Air Force's first major aircraft safety incident of 2024.
The Air Force is laying the groundwork for a vast fleet of more than 1,000 autonomous drones that will fly alongside piloted fighters.
Maj. Terry Brayman joined the Air Force in 2014 and began flying the Osprey in 2020.
The accident, which remains under investigation, is the deadliest Air Force mishap since 2018, and the fourth fatal Osprey crash in two years.
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