An image circulates on social media of the Royal Air Force (RAF) F-35 fighter that was rescued from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The aircraft, an F-35B vertical take-off and landing, was taking off from the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth when it crashed in November 2021.
In the image it is possible to see the British stealth fighter aboard one of the ships involved in the rescue operation. It shows the F-35 'lying on its back' on the vessel's deck, with the landing gear extended, and the armament and engine bays open.
This is the wreckage of a British # F35B fighter salvaged from the #Mediterranean. pic.twitter.com/yH2tubCCJ3
— James Wuttichai (@Military9News) January 21, 2022
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It is not possible to see the front section of the fuselage, nor the cockpit, of course. However, the aircraft appears to be in good condition even after spending three weeks at the bottom of the sea. The exact origin of the photo is still unknown.
Em November 17th, 2021, the F-35B registration ZM152 crashed in the Mediterranean while trying to take off from HMS Queen Elizabeth. The pilot ejected and was later rescued with minor injuries.
Well thank God he is still with us! That's all I can say. pic.twitter.com/YtL6f0BFAm
ADVERTISING — Seb H (@sebh1981) November 29, 2021
The crash of the 5th Generation stealth jet generated a major rescue operation by the British Royal Navy (RN), along with the navies of Italy and the United States. The reason was not to let the plane fall into Russian and Chinese hands, which would be a real disaster.
It took RN two weeks to find the fighter at the bottom of the sea and one more to get it out of the water. England announced the successful rescue from the plane on December 07th, thanking Italy and the USA for their collaboration in the operation. Also in late November, a video showing the accident was leaked on the internet, which led to the subsequent arrest of a sailor.
The ZM152 was one of the newest fighters in the RAF's F-35 fleet, entering service in June 2019 notes the The War Zone. This fact indicates a greater loss for England and its armed forces. However, with initial indications apparently pointing to human error being the cause of the crash, the overall impact on F-35B operations is likely to be limited.
Interesting (and disappointing) to find out that the F-35B that was lost from the QE was ZM152; she first flew in June 2019 and is, therefore, one of the newer F-35Bs in the UK fleet, with significantly lower Block IV upgrade requirements than older airframes. Thus a greater loss pic.twitter.com/wHnxHQLVtG
— Justin Bronk (@Justin_Br0nk) December 6, 2021
The ZM152 was produced in Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) batch 11, being at a higher systems standard than previously delivered jets. That means it would cost less and be simpler to Block 4 standard in the future. With his loss, the RAF was left with 23 F-35Bs in its fleet.
