World's most expensive stealth fighter missing
The F-35 has a lower radar cross-section to allow its pilots to see the other aircraft first and take action. The F-35’s aligned edges, reduced engine signature, internal carriage of weapons and fuel, and embedded sensors contribute to its unique stealth performance.
The F-35A, flown by the Air Force, takes off and lands on conventional runways, and the F-35B, the Marine Corps version, is a short-takeoff vertical landing aircraft that can operate off the Navy’s amphibious assault ships. The F-35C is flown from an aircraft carrier.
It was in 2018 that the aircraft suffered its first crash in the 17 years of its development. In an eerie similarity to the latest crash, a Marine Corps fighter jet, F-35B, crashed in South Carolina in 2018.
In 2022, another F-35B crash-landed in Texas. Following the incident, Lockheed Martin grounded several F-35s until at least early January 2023 and halted deliveries of the stealth fighter to the US and its allies.
In January 2022, an F-35C operating from the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier in the South China Sea crashed on the deck, injuring seven.
Also, in January 2022, the pilot of a South Korean F-35A jet fighter made an emergency “belly landing” at an air base after its landing gear malfunctioned due to electronic issues.
In November 2021, a British F-35 crashed off the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth into the Mediterranean Sea. The pilot ejected safely from that plane.
In May 2020, the pilot ejected safely when a US Air Force F-35 crashed on landing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The Air Force attributed the crash to various factors involving the pilot and the plane’s systems.
In April 2019, a Japanese F-35 crashed into the Pacific Ocean off northern Japan, killing its pilot. The Japanese military blamed that crash on spatial disorientation, “a situation in which a pilot cannot correctly sense the position, attitude, altitude, or the motion of an airplane.”
Source: https://bit.ly/3EHIkDh
Images: Lockheed Martin
Copyright © Shawn Herbst 2023