The US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in operation near Hawaii in 2018. On the 24th, the latest stealth fighter F-35C crashed into the seabed after colliding with the aircraft carrier. Provided by the US Navy.
The U.S. Navy is in a state of emergency after the F-35C, the latest stealth fighter jet from the U.S. has crashed into the South China Sea. If the wreckage goes to China, the possibility of military technology leakage is high, so it is a situation that must be recovered before China.
“The U.S. Navy is preparing to retrieve the F-35C fighter jet that crashed during the landing of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson,” said Nicholas Ringo, spokesman for the 7th Fleet, in an interview with CNN on the 26th (local time). During training in the South China Sea on the 24th, the fighter collided with a carrier and fell into the sea. Seven people were injured, including a fighter pilot and a crew member working on the deck of the carrier. The Navy did not disclose the specific training process. However, Ringo said the fighter recovery was “a very complex and difficult operation”.
The problem is China. China has claimed exclusive sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. It is difficult to rule out the possibility of claiming the right to salvage fighters in the future. There is also growing concern that US military secrets could be leaked if they find the wreckage before the US. “China will use submarines and deep-sea submersibles to find sunken fighters,” Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, told CNN. This means that for the United States, it is an urgent priority to fix the fighters one step ahead of China.
However, there is also a political burden for China to directly salvage the F-35C. For this reason, some analysts say that China has not yet issued an official comment on the matter. Colin Koh, a research fellow at Singapore’s Rajaratnam Graduate School of International Studies (RSIS), said: said. “It’s likely that China will continue to monitor the U.S. salvage operation and wander around,” he added.
It will be some time before the US completes the salvage of the fighter jets. Former Director Schuster said it would take an additional 10 to 15 days for US salvage vessels to reach the South China Sea, and the total salvage period could take 120 days or more.
Jang Soo-hyun reporter jangsue@hankookilbo.com
