According to the military base in Charleston, South Carolina, the stealth aircraft went missing on Sunday. The pilot was able to eject “safely”.
The US Army announced on Monday that it had found the remains of an F-35 stealth fighter jet that had been wanted for around 24 hours on the country’s east coast, the pilot of which ejected on Sunday afternoon for reasons that are still unclear.
The military discovered “a debris field in Williamsburg County” in South Carolina “in close coordination with local authorities,” wrote on X (ex-Twitter) of the Joint Base Charleston military base.
Call to citizens
The discovery of this state-of-the-art military device ends the intensive research work carried out by the American authorities since Sunday afternoon. They had called on residents of the area to help find the precious wreck, which sparked much ridicule online.
After the disappearance of an American stealth aircraft on Sunday, the army appealed to citizens to help track down its fighter jet.
“If you have any information that could help our rescue teams locate the F-35, please call the Base Defense Operations Center,” the military facility wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Air base officials said they were conducting searches around two lakes north of Charleston in coordination with federal aviation regulators. The F-35 fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin cost around $80 million each.