The command of the US Navy has published information - very few - about the accident of the fifth-generation F-35C fighter on the Carl Vinson nuclear aircraft carrier in the South China Sea.
When landing, the plane hit the flight deck and then fell into the sea, writes The Drive with reference to a representative of the US Seventh Fleet. Previously, the military did not comment on reports of the disaster. The impact was superficial, the aircraft carrier's equipment was not damaged, flights from the ship continue. The F-35 pilot ejected and was rescued by helicopter. He and two sailors of the deck crew were taken to a hospital in the Philippines, and four more crew members of the aircraft carrier received medical assistance on the ship.
It is likely that the Navy will try to get the fallen plane as soon as possible, since its technologies and secret equipment are of great interest to China and Russia, and Beijing considers the South China Sea, where the accident occurred, a zone of its interests. Since the F-35C is designed for vertical landing, its speed when falling into the sea was minimal. This suggests that the plane survived.
American sailors have the equipment necessary for deep-sea work - in 2021, the Okinawa Navy retrieved the MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from a record, according to the US Navy command, depth of six kilometers. However, most of the fragments of the F-35A that fell into the Pacific Ocean in 2019 could not be found - the plane entered the water at high speed and fell apart.
Anton Valagin
