The US Navy is working to recover a plane that crashed into the South China
Sea during war games this week.
The US seems to want to immediately get the fighter jets that are still
sinking on the seabed before they are obtained by China. The incident left
several sailors injured.
Three US Navy personnel were transported to the Philippines for medical
treatment, while four others were treated aboard Monday (24/1/2022) after a
US F-35C Lightning II stealth aircraft suffered a “deck landing accident
while the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70 ) is on a routine flight in the South
China Sea.”
Luckily, the pilot of the plane was immediately rescued by a military
helicopter after the eject. Unfortunately, the plane itself had not been
found until this news was released.
"I can confirm that the plane hit the flight deck on landing and then
plunged into the water," US Navy spokesman Lieutenant Nicholas Lingo said
Tuesday.
Asked about the possibility of China rescuing the plane, Lingo said, "We
cannot speculate about what the People's Republic of China (PRC) intentions
are in this matter."
The US Navy has launched an investigation into what went wrong with the
plane during the emergency landing.
At the time of the crash, the US Navy aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and
USS Abraham Lincoln, among other US ships and aircraft, were involved in
military exercises near China as tensions between the two countries
continued to escalate.
Rear Admiral Dan Martin stated, "The exercise highlights the ability of the
US Navy to deploy an extraordinary maritime force, when called upon, to
support a free and open Indo-Pacific region."
China has territorial claims to nearly all of the South China Sea and
denounces US operations in the region as a violation of its sovereignty.
