British-American Submarines "Race the Russians" in Egyptian Waters
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British-American submarines are in a race to find what military experts describe as one of the world's biggest military secrets before the Russians, a British newspaper reported.
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British F-35 fighter jet crashes into the Mediterranean
Sources indicated that British Royal Navy submarines are engaged in what they described as a “race against the Russians” to recover the wreckage of an F-35 plane, worth 100 million pounds (more than 134 million dollars), equipped with “top-secret technology” from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, near the Egyptian Sinai.
The Daily Mail newspaper reported that a British pilot was forced to eject from his F-35B Lightning II as it ditched into the sea soon after taking off on 'routine exercise' from the Navy's flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.
According to the sources, the crashed plane was one of eight British fast jets in this category on the British aircraft carrier, along with ten American planes.
The newspaper stated that a "scramble" (between divers and submarines) was underway to recover a "next-generation fighter" from the seafloor before Russia could reach it and lay its hands on critical military secrets.
It noted that “it is believed that it is the first time that an F-35 plane has crashed in such an area”, that is, in the waters of the Mediterranean near Egypt.
Advanced US-designed fighter
The newspaper noted that the technology onboard the US-designed fighter, including its highly classified and sensitive radars and sensors, allows the fighter to fly “invisible” in normal areas at supersonic speeds.
It also noted that despite the high secrecy of the information, “it is possible that China already knows everything there is to know about the plane because of the espionage operations.”
🆕 Downed 🇬🇧 F3️⃣5️⃣B
— CommonSense Defence (@DefenceSenseUK) November 17, 2021
A 🇬🇧 F35B operating from @HMSQNLZ has been lost over the Mediterranean.
The pilot has been safely recovered, utilising embarked Merlin 🚁
- Recovery❓Given its highly sensitive allied capabilities.
- Fleet numbers 🔢, as an example of peace time attrition. pic.twitter.com/lD3EEBSJsX
It also indicated that the plane's location had already been located Wednesday afternoon, and an Anglo-American security team is managing the site at the seabed until the plane is raised to the surface, in a secret operation that includes “divers and small submarines.”
Sources confirmed that the fighter is Britain's most advanced and costly weapon, as the plane can land vertically and needs a relatively short runway to take off.
It is worth mentioning that the F-35 crash is the first for Britain and the RAF fleet to lose a fighter of this class.
F-35s; a history of crashes
The Daily Mail discussed the fighter's previous performance, as the plane crash sparked new concerns about the F-35, which Britain presently possesses 24 of.
It also plans to purchase 138 new ones from Lockheed Martin, an American aviation powerhouse, for 9.1 billion pounds (more than 12.2 billion dollars) over the next few years, with 48 of them set to be delivered by 2025.
After an F-35 fighter jet crashed in South Carolina during a training exercise back in 2018, an American pilot was forced to deplane after takeoff.
And last year, an F-35B fighter jet also crashed near California after colliding with a small plane.
Royal Navy submarines and special forces in underwater race to recover crashed £100m F-35 fighter jet https://t.co/VD07KBLhA9 pic.twitter.com/BwlBn9P807
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) November 17, 2021
