Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the U.S. military is moving ahead with developing the Marine Corps version of the next-generation strike fighter jet, but warns the program is “not out of the woods yet.” Those remarks came as the F-35B Lightning II was removed from “probation” and granted full status along the other two variants of the Joint Strike Fighter. He said the F-35, the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program, is “absolutely vital to maintaining America’s air superiority”.

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