U.S. Races to Recover Lost F35 Fighter Jet in South China Sea

[RickOShea]

BBC - F35-C fighter jet: Race is on to reach sunken US plane... before China


A bizarre race against time is under way for the US Navy to reach one of its downed fighter jets - before the Chinese get there first.

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. As it is in international waters, it is technically fair game.

Whoever gets there first, wins.


*Moar at link.

[Raptor]

One other option, of course, is to destroy the jet to stop it getting into the hands of Beijing.

"The easiest thing to do would be to torpedo it!" said one military officer.

But that's not thought to be an avenue under consideration.

Of course an explosion would not necessary destroy all of the equipment...but yes. Drop a 1,000 lbs of explosive on it.


...but you have to find it first to do that and that is where all the cost and difficulty comes up. If you find it is just as easy to attach airbags to it with an ROV and pull it up. BTW you still do not necessarily recover all of the pieces AND you tell the world where to look based upon the surface activity.

[MacWa77ace]

A Happy ending?

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/navy-recovers-stealth-35-south-china-sea/story?id=83228258