Biden Silent As U.S. Navy Is Competing With China To Recover Downed $100 Million F-35C Jet
The United States Navy is presently engaged in a race against the clock in the South China Sea in order to retrieve a $100 million F35-C fighter jet – before the Chinese military can intercept it.
BBC reported the “$100m F35-C plane came down in the South China Sea after what the Navy describes as a ‘mishap’ during take-off from the USS Carl Vinson. The jet is the Navy’s newest, and crammed with classified equipment — and, as it is in international waters, is technically fair game.”
Despite the fact that the exact site of the accident has not been revealed, the Chinese Communist Party claims practically the whole 1.3 million square mile area of the South China Sea as its own property.
The Chinese military will aim to reach the fighter jet first in order to extract “all the secrets behind this very expensive, leading-edge fighting force.”
Abi Austen, a defense consultant, said, “It’s vitally important the US gets this back. The F-35 is basically like a flying computer. It’s designed to link up other assets — what the Air Force calls ‘linking sensors to shooters’.”
He continued, “If they can get into the 35’s networking capabilities, it effectively undermines the whole carrier philosophy
In the past, military foes were able to secure similar intelligence successes against their allies.
The BBC said, “In 1974, at the height of the Cold War, the CIA secretly pulled a Russian submarine from the sea floor off the coast of Hawaii using a giant mechanical claw. Two years earlier, the Chinese military secretly salvaged the UK submarine HMS Poseidon which sank off China’s east coast.”
Lockheed Martin commented, “The F-35C is the first and world’s only long-range stealth strike fighter designed and built explicitly for Navy carrier operations. Its configuration, embedded sensors, internal fuel and weapons capacity, aligned edges, and state of the art manufacturing processes all contribute to the F-35’s unique Very Low Observable stealth performance. This enables pilots to evade enemy detection and operate in anti-access and contested environments, improving lethality and survivability.”
This jet has “the most advanced and comprehensive sensor suite of any fighter jet in history” and the “largest wingspan and most robust landing gear of all F-35 variants.”
It holds internal and external weapons and “can operate as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance asset and battle manager, sharing information to all networked ground, sea and air assets in the battlespace.”
According to CNN, the pilot of the wrecked F-35C “was conducting routine flight operations when the crash happened. They safely ejected and were recovered by a military helicopter, Pacific Fleet said. The pilot is in stable condition.”
CNN added, “Six others were injured on the deck of the carrier. Three required evacuation to a medical facility in Manila, Philippines, where they are in stable condition, according to Pacific Fleet. The other three sailors were treated on the carrier and have been released.”
