The F-35 aircraft, which costs between US$80 and US$100 million, disappeared on Sunday. Even a Republican congresswoman is mocking it.
The US military has asked for the public’s help in finding an F-35 fighter jet. The plane disappeared on Sunday after the pilot escaped using the ejection seat due to a “malfunction”. He was treated at the hospital. The military was now searching for the jet near the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Joint Base Charleston wrote on Monday that forces had been mobilized in the air and on the ground.
The F-35 stealth jet from the American defense company Lockheed Martin is considered one of the most modern fighters in the world. The missing jet is an F-35B – a vertical takeoff aircraft that covers shorter distances. Stealth jets like the F-35 have a special geometry. Their surfaces are arranged at special angles so as not to reflect a signal. A conventional high-frequency radar receives very little echo.
According to various reports, the now missing fighter currently costs between 80 and 100 million US dollars (around 75 to 96 million euros). In the US, the search caused ridicule. “The US military is losing an F-35. If you find one, it could be their jet,” said US broadcaster CNN. “We knew the F-35 was stealthy, but this is ridiculous,” Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina wrote on Twitter (X). (Apa/Dpa)