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US is asked to join search for British F-35 stealth fighter that crashed in the Mediterranean in race to stop Russia from recovering secret American tech
The US has been asked to help locate and salvage a crashed British fighter jet, in order to prevent the top-secret American technology from falling into Russian hands. The Royal Air Force F-35B Lightning II, one of 24 such aircraft that America has delivered to the UK, crashed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday after the RAF pilot safely ejected.
The top-secret technology on board the stealth jet is now believed to be more than a mile below the surface, and the British military has requested assistance from US teams in the area, according to The Times of London.
The Pentagon referred a DailyMail.com inquiry about salvage efforts to the UK Ministry of Defence, which could not be immediately reached after UK business hours on Thursday.
The $130 million F-35B short-take-off, vertical-landing jet was one of eight British aircraft deployed on the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, where 10 US Marine F-35B jets are also deployed.
The race is now on to locate and recover the wreckage of the advanced stealth fighter before it can be located by Russia, which maintains a Mediterranean naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus.
The Russian Navy's 5th Operational Squadron which operates from the base is believed to include both nuclear and diesel-powered submarines.
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RAF F-35 crash was SEVENTH time jets have malfunctioned in 7 years
June 23, 2014: A USAF F-35A had a catastrophic engine fire caused by a fractured rotor which saw it turn into a blaze as it took off in Florida.
October 27, 2016: A US Marine Corp F-35B set alight mid-flight due to a fire in its weapons bay before the pilot landed safely in Beaufort, South Carolina.
September 28, 2018: All operational F-35s were grounded while a probe was launched into why a fuel tube failed in flight after a horror crash at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina.
April 9, 2019: Parts of the tail of a Japanese F-35 were found in the sea around 85 miles east of Misawa during a training mission.
May 19. 2020: This F-35 crash on landing was caused by a tired, distracted pilot and unresponsive tail glitch.
September 20, 2020: A F-35 stealth fighter jet fell out of the sky and exploded on the ground after hitting a KC-130J tanker in a mid-air collision near the Salton Sea in Imperial County, California.
(More on the link)
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There are international laws regarding maritime salvage that apply here.
This is an interesting incident that brought to light early US deep recovery capability - which in 1966 were still a clusterfuck. But they got what they were after. 1966 Palomares B-52 crash - Wikipedia
I'd be surprised if Russia or anybody else has the capability to retrieve this thing. But, who the hell knows. Even if they find it first I bet we have ways of destroying it
Incidentally, the takeaway from the Palomares link would be the name John P Craven. He has passed away, but if you were ever looking for the government's Chief Scientist Who Knows Things - really Knows Things, that would have been the man.