After the US Navy confirmed that an F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft suffered a landing mishap injuring seven sailors aboard the USS Carl Vinson, the hunt is on for finding its wreckage lying somewhere in the bottom of the South China Sea. The remnants of the F-35C Lightning II fighter jet is essential as it crashed into territorial waters shared by many but claimed by Beijing as its own.
Experts speaking to the BBC have highlighted that since the fighter jet crashed in the South China Sea – which are international waters – whichever country reaches the crash spot first will own the wreckage. China’s presence in the so-called international waters have led to US concerns as it will pick at the wreckage trying to understand the intricacies of the fighter aircraft.
There are several factors which make the F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft one of the best fighter aircrafts ever built. “The F-35 is basically like a flying computer. It’s designed to link up other assets – what the Air Force calls ‘linking sensors to shooters’,” a national security expert Abi Austen was quoted as saying by news agency BBC. Austen, who served the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs as an advisor and is a NATO and EU diplomat, said it is all about ‘who is the biggest dog in the park’.
Another expert, Bryce Barros, told the BBC that Chinese want to have a closer look at the fighter aircraft physically and want to note its strengths and vulnerabilities. However, a US salvage vessel is 10 days away from the crash site and is looking forward to recovering the remnants.
The F-35C jet is the US Navy’s newest and is armed with state-of-the-art tech and classified equipment. The US also has other F-35s like the F-35A and F-35B – the F-35A is flown by the US Air Force and while the F-35B is the US Marine Corps version. The nation also supplied F-35s, albeit different versions, to its allies like Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands and Israel.
The current version of the F-35C, according to the BBC report, has an array of technologies which gives it an upper hand compared to other fighter aircrafts. The F-35C is the US Navy’s first low observable carrier-based aircraft due to which it can operate in enemy airspaces undetected. It also has one of the most powerful fighter engines in the world which can reach speeds of upto 1,200 mph.
Another factor that makes this jet special is that it can share real-time information while being on flight due to a network-enabled mission system. Along with having a robust landing gear it can also carry up to two missiles on its wings and four inside.
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