It had to be a routine operation. But something went wrong. On Wednesday morning a British F-35 crashed in the Mediterranean Sea. The pilot ejected from the fighter and returned safely to the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth from which he had departed. The Ministry of Defense also informed that an investigation into the incident had been launched, but did not comment further. According to the BBC, the investigation will focus primarily on clarifying the causes of the accident, in particular whether it was a technical or human error. And the first case of a British F-35; in the past, however, some accidents involved US F-35s.
A British F35 pilot from HMS Queen Elizabeth ejected during routine flying operations in the Mediterranean this morning.
The pilot has been safely returned to the ship and an investigation has begun, so it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.
– Ministry of Defense Press Office (@DefenceHQPress) November 17, 2021
There are eight UK F-35Bs and ten Americans aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (which Formiche.net visited in June when it docked in Sicily , the first since his departure from Portsmouth, interviewing British Defense Minister Ben Wallace). The B version, that is the vertical take-off one, of the fighter built by Lockheed Martin costs about 100 million dollars. On the vehicle there are avant-garde technologies jealously guarded by the manufacturer and the armed forces: just think that during our visit aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth we were allowed to photograph the aircraft, however, avoiding frontal perspectives for safety reasons.
This is the third F-35B lost in the program’s history. Last year, during a refueling mission in flight over the skies of California, a fighter collided with Lockheed Martin KC-130J, both of the United States Marine Corps: the F-35B crashed to the ground while the tanker managed, albeit damaged, to make an off-piste emergency landing. In 2018, however, a jet crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, South Carolina: the fault of a defect in the fuel lines, which led to a hiatus in the program. In all three of these cases, the pilot – thus the crew of the tanker of the 2020 case – managed to escape to safety.
The BBC, as mentioned, explains that the investigation will have to clarify whether it was a technical or human error. This is due to the fact that, highlighted the defense journalist Jonathan Beale , there were “no other planes involved or hostile actions” near the accident.
In any case, there is “tremendous urgency to locate and rescue the wreck,” said Tobias Ellwood, former captain of the Reserve today chairman of the Defense Committee of the House of Commons for the Conservative Party, on Twitter. In a message published just a few hours, the news of the accident had written: “Many questions – but for later. Right now I’m happy that everyone is safe ”. In the next one, however, he issued a warning: “Both Russia and China will also commit submarine resources hoping to recover key stealth components and sensors that could help their understanding of how to deal with the aircraft in combat.”
F35 DOWN:
Huge urgency to locate and salvage the wreckage.
Both Russia & China will be tasking sub-surface assets as well – hoping to extract stealth components and key sensors that could aid their understanding in how to defeat the plane in combat. pic.twitter.com/Kybo12sfMb
— Tobias Ellwood MP (@Tobias_Ellwood) November 18, 2021
