Originally Posted by
silverelise
How tolerant is the F35 to swallowing birds or other FOD ?
A 2009 LM presentation
Birdstrike Certification Tests of F-35 Canopy and Airframe Structure 'Approved for Public Release' can be found here
https://www.f-16.net/forum/download/file.php?id=13106 how much you wish to rely on its accuracy is up to you.
Israel said damage to an F-35I in September 2017 was caused by a birdstrike, storks according to some sources. This was the same day Syrian and pro-Russian claimed an F-35I was hit by an S-200 aka SA-5 Gammon which Israel denies.
A 'Class A' ( $2 million+ damage cost) incident involving a VMFA-121 F-35B attempting to take off from MCAS Iwakuni on 07 may 2019 was caused by a birdstrike, the 1st MAW spokesman (male) said '... The aircraft never went airborne,..' and was able to taxy 'off the runway'.