The US military has allegedly found the wreckage of the plane in the course of the search for a missing F-35 fighter jet. Joint Base Charleston announced yesterday evening (local time) that they were located in Williamsburg County in the US state of South Carolina.
The fighter jet disappeared on Sunday after the pilot escaped using the ejector seat due to a “glitch”. He was treated in hospital. The military then asked the public for help in finding the F-35. This caused ridicule.
According to various reports, the fighter jet currently costs between 80 and 100 million US dollars (around 75 to 96 million euros). The F-35 stealth jet from the US defense company Lockheed Martin is considered one of the most modern fighter aircraft in the world. The jet that was missing in the meantime was an F-35B – a vertical take-off aircraft that covers shorter distances.
“The US military is missing an F-35. If you find one, it could be their jet,” the US broadcaster CNN headlined in the afternoon. “We knew the F-35 was stealthy, but this is ridiculous,” Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina wrote on X (formerly Twitter).