• A South Korean F-35A that crash-landed in 2022 has been revived thanks to an intriguing new procedure.
• Engineers removed and reattached its wings so it could be moved to a maintenance site.
• This operation is now part of the F-35 program's standard maintenance protocols.

An F-35A stealth fighter jet that crash-landed on its belly in 2022 has been given a new lease of life thanks to a dramatic operation to remove and then reattach its wings.

The South Korean air force aircraft made headlines three years ago after a catastrophic mid-flight bird strike caused an F-35 pilot to make a "belly landing," or gear-up landing, at Seosan Air Base, near the country's eastern coast.

The South Korean pilot walked away from the high-risk maneuver unharmed, but the damage left the Lockheed Martin fifth-generation fighter unfit for service.

Local media reported a year after the bird-strike incident that South Korea was considering dumping the fighter after estimated repair costs to get the jet flying again following its unfortunate run-in with an eagle could be almost the price of a new F-35.

According to the F-35 Joint Program Office, a new plan was then devised with South Korea's air force to repurpose the jet as a training platform at the country's dedicated F-35 maintenance facility.

However, transporting it there would be prohibitively costly and difficult, the JPO said.

The air base and the maintenance facility are roughly 60 miles apart, making it a tough overland journey for the aircraft and its 35-foot wingspan.

The JPO, with South Korea's approval, opted for a novel approach to this problem, and US Air Force, US Navy, and Lockheed Martin personnel gathered in South Korea to work with the local military to remove the jet's wings before transfer and then reattach them on-site at the new location.

"This was a significant challenge, as it was the first attempt at removing F-35 wings as part of a concept demonstration," said Matt Trodden, the F-35 Lightning Support Team Aircraft Crash Recovery Lead Engineer, in a statement.

The process — never conducted before on an F-35A — has now been adopted as part of the F-35 program's standard heavy maintenance, repair, and reuse protocols.

The project took inspiration from an earlier repair project dubbed "Frankenbird" or "Frankenjet" which saw two damaged F-35s fused together into a fully operational aircraft.

Initiated in 2023, the project — led by engineers from manufacturer Lockheed Martin and the US Air Force — resulted in a successful test flight with the jet earlier this year.

Salvage operations of this kind could help mitigate the cost of losing an F-35, which has an estimated price tag of over $80 million for the A variant that South Korea flies. The jet comes in three different variants: the internal gun-equipped As, the Bs with a lift van for short takeoff and vertical landing, and Cs for carrier operations.

The "Frankenbird," by contrast, cost around $6 million to cobble together, and it is due back into operational service this year.

South Korea took delivery of its first F-35A Lighting II in 2019. It now operates roughly 40 of them, with a plan to have a fleet of 60 by 2028, according to the manufacturer.

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Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, died Wednesday morning at 75 years old, his family said.

What they're saying: "It is with immense sadness that we share that our devoted and loving father, husband, brother, friend, and public servant, Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, passed away peacefully at his home this morning," the family said in a statement.

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• Connolly had been battling with esophageal cancer, prompting him to announce last month that he would step aside as ranking member of the Oversight panel.

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• Target reported sliding sales in its first quarter to May 3.
• CEO Brian Cornell said sales "fell short of our expectations" in a "highly challenging environment."
• Cornell also said post-tariff price increases would be a "last resort."

Target sales fell sharply in the three months to May 3, in a period marked by its decision to roll back DEI initiatives in January.

In an earnings call Wednesday, Target CEO Brian Cornell said the reaction to the DEI changes was one of several "additional headwinds" that had an adverse impact on sales, but the company could not quantify the amount.

Business Insider reported in March that consumer analytics firm Numerator found customer foot traffic and market share had shifted from Target to Costco, particularly among shoppers who value DEI.

With respect to tariffs, chief commercial officer Rick Gomez said on the earnings call that "adjusting prices" was one of several steps the company was taking to manage new import costs.

Comparable sales fell by 3.8%, store traffic was down 2.4% and average transaction size decreased 1.4%.

Store-originated sales declined 5.7% and were partially offset by 4.7% growth in digital sales, led by a 36% surge in same-day delivery via Target Circle 360.

"We have many levers to use in mitigating the impact of tariffs and price is the very last resort," Cornell said.

Some alternatives to price hikes include sourcing more products from the US rather than China, negotiating with suppliers, adjusting the timing of deliveries, and eliminating products from the retail assortment, Gomez said.

Target now expects a low-single-digit decline in sales for the full year.

Stock fell more than 6% in premarket trading and was down 28% this year at Tuesday's close.

It also announced an "acceleration office" led by former CFO Michael Fiddelke aimed at speeding up strategic execution and reversing recent declines.

Amy Tu, the chief legal and compliance officer, and the Christina Henningon, chief strategy and growth officer, are both leaving the company.

Net income rose $62 million to $1.04 billion for the period.

• Sam Altman has said robots will soon take on everyday jobs in the real world.
• The OpenAI CEO told Bloomberg that society isn't prepared for the coming "humanoid robots moment."
• He said it will feel "very sci-fi," and that it is coming soon.

Sam Altman has said that, while people worry about AI replacing white-collar jobs, something else will catch them off guard.

In a Bloomberg interview that aired Tuesday, the OpenAI CEO said that "the world isn't ready for" humanoid robots walking down the street.

"I don't think the world has really had the humanoid robots moment yet," he said.

He said people could soon be walking down the street and seeing "like seven robots that walk past you doing things or whatever. It's gonna feel very sci-fi."

And he said that moment isn't "very far away."

"I don't think that's very far away from like a visceral, like, 'Oh man, this is gonna do a lot of things that people used to do,'" he said.

He said this prospect was a marked contrast to people who have "maybe abstractly thought" of AI betting at specific tasks like programming and customer support.

In February, OpenAI signed a deal with Figure AI, a startup developing humanoid robots designed to "help in everyday life." Figure said its robot, Figure-01, is built for manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, and retail jobs.

"AI is, for sure, going to change a lot of jobs, totally take some jobs away, create a bunch of new ones," Altman told Bloomberg.

He said OpenAI has "always tried to be super honest about what we think the impact may be, realizing that we'll be wrong on a lot of details."

"I think I am way too self-aware of my own limitations to sit here and try to say I can, like, tell you what's on the other side of that wormhole," he added.

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