Europe

British F-35 fighter jet crashes while taking off from aircraft carrier

November 18, 2021
Henry Club

The pilot was ejected and returned safely to the ship, and an investigation into the incident that occurred during routine flight operations had begun, the ministry said.

Britain operates the F-35B, a single-engine, short-take-off vertical landing variant of the US-developed stealth jets that each cost about $115 million to build.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement: “The ability to operate with the most advanced fighter jets ever built from sea is a momentous moment in our history, giving reassurance to our allies and our adversaries of the UK’s… Demonstrates formidable air power.” those days.

British F-35s saw their first combat in 2019, flying strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria from a Royal Air Force base on the island of Cyprus.

With plans to acquire 138 F-35s, Britain will be the third largest operator of Lockheed-Martin-built jets after the United States and Japan.

Both the US and Japan have lost F-35s in accidents.

in september 2018 A US Marine Corps F-35B crashed In South Carolina, the first crash of the F-35.
In April 2019, A Japanese F-35A crashed in the Pacific Ocean Ocean off northern Japan, killing its pilot. Japanese Defense Ministry later attributed that accident to spatial disorientation, meaning the pilot could not adequately understand his surroundings and essentially flew the stealth fighter straight into the ocean during a night training mission.
In May 2020, A US Air Force F-35A crashed in Florida during routine training, but the pilot ejected safely.
british crash comes On the final leg of a journey to Queen Elizabeth, which is leading UK calls up Carrier Strike Group 21, which saw it go as far as Japan and South Korea to participate in the exercise with allies and partners as the Royal Navy tries to increase its global presence.

When the strike group left Britain in the spring, the UK Ministry of Defense described it as the largest concentration of sea and air power to leave British shores in a generation.

The US and Dutch warships are part of the strike group, and 10 US Marine Corps F-35s are operating from Queen Elizabeth along with eight British stealth jets.

When a version of this carrier strike group sailed together during military exercises from Scotland, the UK Ministry of Defense stated that it was “the largest number of fighter jets to operate at sea from a Royal Navy carrier since HMS Hermes in 1983″. Great concentration.”

It also said it was “the largest air group of fifth-generation fighters at sea anywhere in the world.” The fifth generation fighters are the most advanced combat aircraft in the air.

There was no immediate word on whether Britain would attempt to recover the wreckage of the F-35 from the Mediterranean.

When the Japanese F-35 crashed in 2019, there was speculation that the wreckage could be a target for potential adversaries such as Russia and China who could gain access to its advanced technology. But both the US and Japan rejected the idea.

,