Missing F-35: US military asks for public's help to find jet

www.bbc.com...

The US military has asked for the public's help to locate one of its $80m (£65m) F-35 fighter jets after the pilot ejected from the aircraft.

It went missing on Sunday afternoon when the pilot was flying over the southern state of South Carolina.

The pilot, who has not been named, ejected and parachuted safely. He is in a stable condition in hospital.

It is not yet clear what happened, but officials said the aircraft was involved in a "mishap".

The jet, made by Lockheed Martin, is thought to cost around $80m (£65m) each, according to news agency AFP.

Officials said they were focusing their search for the F-35B Lightning II jet around two lakes north of the city of Charleston.

Based on the jet's last known location the searches of Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion are being carried out with federal aviation regulators.

Nancy Mace, a Republican congresswoman for South Carolina, asked on X: "How in the hell do you lose an F-35?

"How is there not a tracking device and we're asking the public to what, find a jet and turn it in?"

The aircraft is a stealth jet - meaning its airframe, sensors and systems are designed to operate undetected by enemy radar.

Joint Base Charleston posted its appeal for help on X, formerly Twitter. "Emergency response teams are still trying to locate the F-35," it said.

"The public is asked to co-operate with military and civilian authorities as the effort continues."

It encouraged anyone with information that could help its recovery teams to contact its operations centre.

I hope the pilot is alive and well, from the article it seems he has survived and in a stable condition in hospital. The jet is all over the place and has probably blown to bits and pieces upon impact with the ground.

a reply to: AlienBorg


The pilot put it on autopilot before ejecting. I'm not a jet pilot, but that doesn't sound right to me.

We're going to lose a major war if we don't correct the systemic incompetence in our military.

Edit to add:

Crashed Jets are super hazardous, hopefully they're warning the public not to approach it if they find it.

So we can locate a grandma that may have entered the Capitol without permission on J6 but can’t find an $80M military jet?

BUILD BACK BETTREEEERRREEE

Most incompetent administration on the planet and it’s not even close.

$80million dollar Jet and they forgot to install a GPS ? A Transponder so they can locate the Aircraft in an event just like this one ?

I'm at a loss, how incompetent are these people ?

The Chinese have probably dropped a Special Ops team in and seized the wreckage .

a reply to: AlienBorg

I'm no expert but I would imagine there to be a redundancy that goes into effect when the eject handle is pulled that put the aircraft into some type of stealth mode so that if such a thing happens in a comprised area it would purposely make it difficult to locate the jet.
I'm sure Zaph would have more info on the incident and why they are having trouble finding it.
So while some here blame the current administration....they have nothing to do with this.

a reply to: AlienBorg

I sure wish it would make a vertical landing in my backyard

a reply to: MrPillowpants

...hmm now that would make for one hell of a story!

Hide-and-Seek Takes Flight!

Children Stumble Upon F-35, Air Force Agents Arrive Posing as Clowns for 'Surprise Birthday Party'🤡



too much fun...

I'm just toying with the idea that the plane was remotely hijacked and flown to some unknown destination by a nefarious third party.

Likely? Maybe not.

Possible? Given how every piece of modern technology is networked now (from lightbulbs to automobiles) and the fact that interconnective security generally sucks…

Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if that machine had critical networking components that were procured from China and hardcoded with hidden backdoors.. The federal gov't and the Pentagon have done it before.

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Please use existing thread.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Closed.