22:00 18/09/2023
The US military has asked for the public's help in locating one of its fighter jets, the F-35B, worth $100 million. The plane disappeared on Sunday afternoon when the pilot 'abandoned' it while flying over South Carolina.
According to what he writes with the BBC, he parachuted from the plane and is in the hospital, in a stable state of health. US officials said the plane was involved in an incident, but gave no further details about what it was about. The plane was left on autopilot the moment the pilot ejected. According to officials, the vehicle may have been in the air for a long time. They added that they were focusing the search around Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, north of the city of Charleston. The search area was based on the last known location of the aircraft.
The loss of the plane did not pass without reaction. In a tweet, South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace wrote: “How the hell can you miss an F-35? How is it possible that there is no tracking device and what are we asking the public to find and return?"
This fighter jet is designed so that its airframe, sensors and systems operate undetected by enemy radars…
The military base in Charleston said in a social media post that crews were continuing to search for the plane. "The public is asked to cooperate with the military and civil authorities while efforts continue. We encourage anyone with information that could help us locate the plane to contact us."
This plane costs about 100 million dollars and is one of the most advanced models in the world.
In 2018, the US Army temporarily grounded its entire fleet of F-35s after one of them crashed in South Carolina./tvklan.al
