Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Concern about salvage by Russia
NATO competes to wreck a fighter jet
Last week, a British fighter jet crashed into the sea shortly after taking off. When it comes to salvage, NATO has to move quickly. Because Russia could also be interested in the secret technology on board.
The armed forces of the United States and Great Britain are in a race with Russia to salvage a stealth jet that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea. “We’ll get it first, I promise you,” said US Brigadier General Simon Doran on board the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. The F-35B fighter jet crashed into the sea last Wednesday after taking off from the carrier.
The pilots were able to escape from the aircraft using an ejector seat. There were fears within NATO that Russia might try to salvage the sunken wreckage of the plane first in order to gain insight into the secret technology.
“We are not worried about the recovery,” said the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Europe, General Tim Radford. However, the military declined to provide any further details about the salvage work.
The commander of the nine-ship Allied Combat Group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, Steve Moorhouse, called the loss of the F-35B “an extremely unfortunate incident” and “a setback”. However, he emphasized: “The reliability of the aircraft and the confidence in the project have not decreased.”
The UK has so far received 21 of the US-made F-35Bs, most of them for its two modern aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The F-35B are designed for short runways and vertical landings.