The US has been asked to help locate and salvage a crashed British fighter jet, bulk index check in order to prevent the top-secret American technology from falling into Russian hands.
The Royal Air Force F-35B Lightning II, one of 24 such aircraft that America has delivered to the UK, crashed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday after the RAF pilot safely ejected.
The top-secret technology on board the stealth jet is now believed to be more than a mile below the surface, and elasticsearch bulk index not working the British military has requested assistance from US teams in the area, according to of .
The Pentagon referred a DailyMail.com inquiry about salvage efforts to the UK Ministry of Defence, which could not be immediately reached after UK business hours on Thursday.
The $130 million F-35B short-take-off, vertical-landing jet was one of eight British aircraft deployed on the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, where 10 US Marine F-35B jets are also deployed.
The race is now on to locate and recover the wreckage of the advanced stealth fighter before it can be located by Russia, which maintains a Mediterranean naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus.
The Russian Navy’s 5th Operational Squadron which operates from the base is believed to include both nuclear and diesel-powered submarines.
An RAF F-35B Lightning is seen during a training run above the HMS Queen Elizabeth.The US has been asked to help locate and salvage a one of the American-made British fighter jets after it crashed
By plunging into international waters, the crash triggered a scramble to recover the next-generation jet from the sea bed before it could be reached by foreign powers, particularly Russia.Above: File image of HMS Queen Elizabeth
The British have so far ordered 48 F-35B jets and have pledged to buy 138 from America, though that number is likely to be cut.
The UK MoD said the crash occurred at 10.00am GMT when an RAF pilot was forced to eject during a routine operation from the carrier.No other aircraft were involved.
The incident came on the maiden operational voyage of the Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy’s new Fleet Flagship.
After plunging into international waters, the jet triggered a scramble to find the next-generation plane before it could be reached by foreign powers.It’s thought to be the first time an F35-B has crashed in such an area.
The technology aboard the US-designed aircraft, including top-secret radar and sensors, is hugely sensitive as it allows the F-35 to fly ‘unseen’ in hostile territory at supersonic speeds.
The joint search for the F-35B Lightning II will reportedly see deep water remote-controlled vehicles use large inflatable sacks to hoist the machine from the seabed.
A Royal Navy source told the Times