On November 17, 2021, the British carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was
carrying out routine operations in the Mediterranean when one of her
F-35B Lightnings failed to take off and plummeted into the depths of the ocean.
The Ministry of Defense did not provide any additional information at the time,
citing an ongoing investigation.
However, over a week later, a surveillance video that appeared to come from one of the
carrier’s security cameras was leaked to the internet. The impressive footage shows the
carrier slowing down as it moves along the takeoff ramp, only to plummet right as the pilot ejects.
The video instantly raised alarms, especially as the high-tech piece’s cost is almost 100 million
pounds and could contain delicate information for potential adversaries to find. More importantly,
it raised serious concerns about what led to the accident.
Ocean Supremacy
Key partnerships and alliances have helped the Royal Navy and Air Force
secure their authority over the world’s seas,
and modern technologies have undoubtedly provided an invaluable edge into the new millennium.
When Lockheed Martin created the fifth-generation stealth fighter, the F-35 Lightning II, in the
early years of the 21st century, the opportunity to bulk up their strength was not to be missed.
Consequently, the F-35B variant of the American multi-role STOL combat aircraft
found its way into the British defenses.
The United Kingdom’s most advanced and expensive jets, at almost 100 million pounds each,
combine radar-evading stealth technology with supersonic speeds, and the Lightning
II is projected to become the nation’s primary strike aircraft for the next three decades.
There are plans to acquire 138 examples, which would place the nation as one of the
top three largest operators of the jet, right behind the US and Japan.
In 2019, the British F-35s first saw combat against ISIS in Iraq and Syria,
operating from a Royal Air Force base in Cyprus. After that,
and in possession of the most advanced warplanes in the air, the UK set out to conform: (QUOTE)
"The largest air group of fifth-generation fighters at sea anywhere in the world."
Thus was born the Carrier Strike Group 21. The carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth
operates 10 US Marine Corps F-35s in tandem with 8 British stealth jets.
Moreover, the strike group welcomes the support of American and Dutch warships.
When the group first sailed in the fall of 2020, the UK Defense Ministry declared it was:
(QUOTE) "The largest concentration of fighter jets
to operate at sea from a Royal Navy carrier since HMS Hermes in 1983."
Moreover, the fighters are flown by the renowned 617 Squadron, known as the ‘Dambusters.’
The following spring, the British Ministry of Defense was proud to announce that it had launched
the largest concentration of maritime and air power from British shores in an entire generation.
Then, in June of 2021, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her mighty fighters rejoined the efforts in the Middle
East, the first combat operation for a UK carrier in over a decade. Over the following six months,
the F-35s conducted around 2,000 takeoffs and landings without any major incidents.
That is, until November 17.
An Impressive Mishap
At 10:00am, HMS Queen Elizabeth was conducting routine operations over international waters
in the eastern Mediterranean when one of her treasured F-35s crashed into the sea.
The Ministry of Defense reported the incident but added that it would be
inappropriate to further comment on the situation, given the ongoing investigation.
However, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace did clarify that the jet had come down right
after takeoff and added: (QUOTE) "We are pleased the pilot is safe and well and back on board."
Despite the incident, operational and training flights continued.
Days later, a dramatic video was posted on social media. It was captured from a mobile
phone filming a computer screen that was playing what is labeled as “Visual Surveillance System.”
The footage appears to be raw video from the carrier’s own closed-circuit TV system,
which monitors regular flight-deck activities. And evidently, help in accident investigations.
The surveillance footage shows the instant the Lightning rolled off the ship,
and despite its unconfirmed authenticity, the Ministry of Defense did acknowledge its existence.
Previous unconfirmed reports suggested the pilot tried to abort the takeoff but instead ran out
of the deck and nosedived into the waters. The new evidence seemed to support this version.
As seen in the video, the F-35 jet approached the ski jump in preparation for takeoff.
But somehow, instead of accelerating, the aircraft slowed down on the ramp.
Out of power, the fighter toppled into the sea. Not long after the jet disappeared,
the video shows the pilot ejecting, and fortunately, a parachute gliding down.
The parachute then seems to become snagged on the ship’s bow,
confirming another rumor circulating before the video was exposed.
British company Martin-Baker, which manufactured the pilot’s ejection seat, was quick to tweet on
their official profile: (QUOTE) "We've saved 7,662 air crew lives from around the world to date."
The Ministry of Defense reiterated that it was still too soon to comment on the
potential causes of the accident and immediately restarted the investigation.
Investigations
It is speculated that a likely cause of the accident could have
been an engine cover left on the jet by mistake.
The Sun newspaper claimed that the engine failed due to the ingestion of a: (QUOTE) “Cheap plastic
rain cover.” However, even though it is possible, the blocker came from elsewhere in the deck.
That same report claims that the sailors on deck immediately knew that something was wrong.
Subsequently, they spotted a red cover floating in the sea,
and The Sun’s anonymous sources: (QUOTE) “blamed human error and oversight.”
The fact that there were no other aircraft involved or any hostile actions
does point to technical failure or human error. However, a secondary investigation
was greenlighted to dig into how the sensitive video was released online.
Moreover, efforts will be made to recover the costly equipment, which may be virtually intact.
The aircraft is packed with highly sensitive technology and data, and the stealth jet is
among the most expensive defense projects undertaken by the American military.
Ironically, it was designed to be hard to detect on radar.
Within hours of the incident, the UK approached the US for assistance in salvaging the aircraft,
and the closest equipment was in Spain. According to USNI News,
the US Navy became quickly involved in the recovery mission, and so did Italy.
Incidents
The 65,000-ton Royal Navy flagship returned home
after the last leg of her attempt to increase the British presence as far as Japan and South Korea.
HMS Queen Elizabeth’s maiden deployment included exercises with the Indian military
in the Indo-Pacific region, and the heightened tensions with China added
to the sensitivity of having lost such a valuable asset. It is left to wonder
what type of top-secret information was lost for the Asian superpower to find.
While the November incident was the first time a British F-35 was lost,
it wasn’t the first time the model had run into trouble.
As far back as 2018, the Pentagon was forced to briefly ground its Lightning fleet
due to a problem with the fighters’ fuel tubes, which was solved back then. That same year,
a US Marine Corps F-35B was the first of its kind to crash in an accident in South Carolina.
Furthermore, in April of 2019, a Japanese F-35A was involved in an accident over the
Pacific Ocean, which sadly claimed its pilot’s life. The Japanese Defense Ministry attributed
the disaster to spatial disorientation, as the pilot wasn’t able to adequately
sense his surroundings during a nighttime training session and flew into the waves.
In another routine training in May of 2020, a US Air Force F-35A crashed in Florida,
but thankfully the pilot ejected on time.
Even though incidents cast a shadow on otherwise professional crews, their service shouldn’t be
overlooked. As Secretary Wallace put it: (QUOTE) "The ability to operate from the sea with the
most advanced fighter jets ever created is a significant moment in our history, offering
reassurance to our allies and demonstrating the UK's formidable air power to our adversaries.”
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