The crash of an F-35B Joint Strike Fighter in South Carolina over the weekend has raised numerous questions about what led to the pilot ejecting and how the $90 million warplane was able to continue flying without a pilot for 100 years. kilometers before crashing.
This is what is known about the modern warplane, considered by many to be the most expensive weapon in history, and its latest incident:
Forced to eject
A U.S. Marine Corps pilot was flying a single-seat F-35B fighter jet on Sunday when he experienced a malfunction and was “forced to eject,” said a Marine Corps official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The plane was at an altitude of approximately 300 meters and less than 2 kilometers north of Charleston International Airport, in a populated area that led the pilot to land with his parachute in the garden of a house.
The Marine Corps F-35 variant is different from the Air Force and Navy versions in that it can take off and land like a helicopter.allowing it to operate on amphibious assault ships.
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But it is also different in the sense that it is the only one of the three variants that has an automatic ejection function on its seat., according to seat manufacturer Martin-Baker. This has raised questions about whether the failure was related to the seat itself.
In the Air Force and Navy versions, “the pilot has to initiate the ejection,” explained Dan Grazier, a former Marine Corps captain.
However, the Marine Corps version’s auto-ejection feature is intended to better protect the pilot in case something goes wrong with the aircraft when it is in sleep mode.
“Did that function activate for some reason and eject the pilot?” Grazier questioned. “There are many unanswered questions.”
Last December, an F-35B that had not yet been delivered to the Marine Corps crashed at the Navy Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas.
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An F35 was recorded crashing.
A few days ago, an F35 plane worth more than 80 million dollars disappeared, flying without a pilot. The US was searching for a plane after the pilot ejected. The plane crashed and was flying on automatic, the software was… pic.twitter.com/Nh26tec13h
— Captain Avril (@CapiSuperGirl_) September 20, 2023
The plane was in hover mode on the runway and began to descend, hit the runway and bounced before the pilot was ejected into the air.
In July 2022, The Air Force temporarily suspended flights of its F-35s due to concerns related to ejection seats.
Although the Air Force F-35A does not have a self-ejection function, Some of the cartridges that initiate ejection on the warplane were found to have problemswhich led to the suspension of flights.
At that moment, all F-35 ejection seats were inspected, including Navy and Marine Corps variantsand continue to be reviewed during standard aircraft maintenance, the F-35 Joint Program Office told The Associated Press.
The aircraft continues flying
Other major questions include how the aircraft continued flying for 100 kilometers before crashing in a field near Indiantown, South Carolina, and why the pilot ejected, if the ejection was intentional, from a plane that was able to remain operational for so long, said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps Reserve colonel. and senior advisor at the Center for International Security and Safety (CSIS).
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“If it flew that far, could (the pilot) have landed it somewhere? Why eject where he did?,” Cancian said.
The search for the aircraft lasted more than a day before the wreckage was finally located on Monday thanks to a South Carolina law enforcement helicopter.
A Marine Corps official said he could not provide additional details. about why it took so long to find the plane, citing the ongoing investigation.
Jeremy Huggins, a spokesman for Joint Base Charleston, told NBC News that the plane was flying in autopilot mode when the pilot ejected of the aircraft.
Once it was located, a Marine Corps team was sent to secure the remains and a second team, in charge of investigating aircraft accidents, went to the scene.
Hunting of the future
The F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter, produced by Lockheed Martin, It is the most advanced fighter in the United States arsenal, with more than 972 warplanes already built and plans to produce more than 3,500 worldwide.
The Department of Defense expects it to serve for decades as the primary fighter for both the United States and a host of allies.as was the F-16 Flying Falcon for decades.
The plane “represents a large part of the future” of the country’s air power, Cancian said.
It was almost 22 years ago that Lockheed won the contract to build the F-35. It created three variants: the Air Force F-35A, which is the most produced version and the one most often sold to allies; the Marine Corps F-35B, which It has the ability to take off and land vertically and hover like a helicopter.; and the Navy’s F-35C, which can land on an aircraft carrier.
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Lockheed Martin has delivered 190 variants of the F-35B to the Marine Corps, at a cost of approximately $90 million each.
However, The program has faced significant cost increases and production delays, and its final cost now exceeds an estimated $1.7 trillion. Although many of the aircraft have been built, the program is already considering replacing the F-35 engine.
THE NATION/ARGENTINA
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