British Carrier-Based F-35 Jet Crashes in Mediterranean, Pilot Safe

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Oliver JJ Lane

A British F-35 fighter jet crashed into the Mediterranean on Wednesday, the pilot ejecting from the aircraft and being safely recovered to UK supercarrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The F-35 fighter jet, one of only a small number of the type yet received by the United Kingdom from Lockheed-Martin in the United States so far, was on a routine operation when it crashed into the sea. The pilot ejected safely and was recovered to HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of Britain’s two new aircraft carriers.

The Ministry of Defence said an investigation has begun into the crash and, consequently, “it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time”.

The carrier is on the return leg of its maiden deployment to the east, where it has exercised with dozens of allies. Notably, in October Queen Elizabeth sailed in company with two U.S. supercarriers USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson, as well as the Japanese carrier JS Ise and a number of escorts and support ships.

The loss of the F-35 to the sea, which very likely will be irretrievable as a working airframe, reduces the UK’s stock of F-35s from 24 to 23. Analysis by Forbes claims the gross cost of an F-35A (the ground-based variant of the carrier-based F-35B ordered by the Royal Navy) to be $110 million (£81 million) per unit, including spares and logistic support.

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