The US Navy will recover the newest F-35C Lightning II aircraft, equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and technology that crashed into the South China Sea.
Earlier media speculated that the US military would do everything possible to prevent the ill-fated aircraft from being recovered by Chinese naval forces. As the incident happened in neutral waters, the plane can be considered as “legitimate prey” for anyone who reaches it first.
“I can confirm the aircraft impacted the flight deck during landing and subsequently fell to the water,” said Lieutenant Nicholas Lingo, spokesman for the US 7th Fleet. “The US Navy is making recovery operations arrangements for the F-35C aircraft.”
When asked about the possibility of the F-35C being found by the Chinese military, Lingo noted that he can’t “speculate on what the PRC's intentions are on this matter.”
The fifth-generation F-35C fighter jet made an unsuccessful landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and crashed into the South China Sea, injuring 7 crew members. Three of them were diagnosed with serious injuries and transported to a hospital in the Philippines.