The U.S. Navy stated that it has recovered the F-35C Lightning II fighter that crashed
into the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in January before sliding off
and sinking into the South China Sea.
The service announced that a team from 7th Fleet's Task Force 75 and the Supervisor of
Salvage and Diving embarked aboard the commercial diving vessel Picasso in order to recover
the jet from a depth of 12,400 feet.
The US Navy's statement said.
"The aircraft was recovered using a CURV-21, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which attached
specialized rigging and lift lines to the aircraft"
It added further, "The ship's crane lifting hook was then lowered
to the seafloor and connected to the rigging, and then lifted the aircraft to the surface
and hoisted it onboard Picasso,"
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why recovery of F-35C Lightning II from South
China Sea was a priority task for US Navy ?
Let's get started.
A video was leaked showing the plane crash on the deck of the Carl Vinson, burst into
flames, and slide across the flight deck and into the sea.
The US Navy had confirmed the authenticity of these visuals
The cause of the crash, which injured several service members including the pilot is still
under investigation.
Carl Vinson was ready for fights again , about 30 to 45 minutes after the incident.
The announcement regarding the recovery follows weeks of secrecy and speculation since the
jet's crash on Jan. 24.
The US Navy said it was "making recovery operations arrangements" for the downed jet in the days
after the crash but everything was kept secret.
A few days later, the Japanese Coast Guard posted a maritime navigational alert to stay
clear of an area about 170 miles or 270 km west of the Philippine island of Luzon due
to "salvage operations … until further notice."
The F 35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighter developed
by Lockheed Martin of the United States.
The F-35C is the carrier variant.
The F-35C brings stealth technology to the carrier flight deck for the first time.
There is no other operational aircraft that is stealthy and can operate from carriers.
The F-35C enables Nimitz class supercarriers like USS Carl Vinson to initiate attack even
against advanced enemy air defenses and function in extremely high-threat environments.
It has a range of 1188 nautical miles that is 2,200 km or 1367 mi and can carry a wide
variety of air to land and air to air missiles.
The arsenal includes GBU-32 and GBU-12 air-dropped bombs, AIM-120 and AIM-9x air-to-air missiles
and a 25mm cannon to name a few.
The US Navy recovered the fighter jet 37 day after it crashed.
While it is standard practice for the US military to take steps to retrieve its assets in these
situations, retrieval of the F-35C is a priority mainly because China could get its hands on
it keeping in view that it fell in the South China Sea.
The location was within the Chinese sphere of operation.
A F-35C could be very useful for China because of two reasons
1.
China has been struggling to build a genuine stealth fighter.
China’s most advanced fighter Chengdu J-20 which is designed by stealing American technologies
and claimed to be a stealthy 5th generation fighter got exposed in 2018.
Reports emerged that a Sukhoi Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force managed to detect the
Chinese Chengdu J-20 jet fighter.
Indian Air Force commander Arup Shaha said, "The Sukhoi's radar can see them.
The new Chinese jets are not so invisible after all.
No special technology is required to detect the J-20, as it can be detected by ordinary
radar stations.”
2.
China could potentially gather technical data such as radar signature of F 35s which could
enable them together with Russia to undercut the main advantage of F35s that’s ‘stealth'.
China has acquired a long range air defense system like S-400 from Russia with whom they
have very close ties.
CTF 75 Commodore Capt.
Gareth Healy said in the statement, “Given the unique challenges of this problem
and the unique technical capabilities that NAVSEA delivered, this was an aggressive and
achievable timeline”
The aircraft will now be delivered to an unnamed, nearby military base “to aid in the ongoing
investigation and evaluated for potential transport to the United States,” according
to the statement.
Viewers may note that the F-35 is a key military asset not only to the U.S. but also many allies.
It will play a major role in any aerial conflict and more than 700 of these have been built
so far.
Turkey was ejected from the F-35 program just because it had acquired the S-400 from Russia.
US Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the head of US forces in Europe, had told a Senate
Armed Services Committee, at that time, “My best military advice would be that we don't
then follow through with the F-35, flying it or working with an ally that's working
with Russian systems, particularly air-defense systems, with what I would say is probably
one of most advanced technological capabilities.”
So, it is evident that the U.S has good reason to keep the F-35's secrets falling into rivals
hands and hence there had to be such a resolute effort to recover it.