Marines lose F-35 figher

This makes no sense to me. How does the military lose an F-35. I have close to 5000 hours flight time in military aircraft. Why wasn’t the transponder on? You are required to have the transponder on when flying in controlled airspace. The only time we turned off the transponder was in combat. For the none aviation guys the transponder emits a radio single that allows air traffic control to track the aircraft.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/...officials-crowdsourcing-tips-to-find-it/

Must be the new way they are making their way to a war zone.

It is not lost,
probably just being borrowed to go pick up this.....

https://www.businessinsider.com/missing-nuclear-bomb-georgia-coast-still-not-found-2023-9?op=1

Ok, I don't know where it is and haven't seen it.

Now tell me why if I find it, I should not cut the canopy within 3" of the edge.

South Carolina. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/f-35-fighter-jet-missing-pilot-ejects-mishap-rcna105534

80 Million dollars and they couldn't spring for a LoJack?

It's swimming with the fishies.

Did they check near the Tetanic?

Sounds like another "test" session for new military hardware to me.

Fly the plane to this Cordiant, set the autopilot, and eject. We will pick you up. A few minutes later: "Darned, there was a mishap, the piolet ejected, and was treated for minor injuries. The plane has flat disappeared. The mishap is under investigation. We will let you knw if we find anything."

Then into the other mic, "Tell the boys the test was successful."

Wreck of missing F-35 found as Marines ground flights

The wreckage of a missing F-35 jet that disappeared Sunday has been found less than 100 miles north of Charleston, a South Carolina military base announced Monday afternoon.

“Personnel from Joint Base Charleston and Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, in close coordination with local authorities, have located a debris field in Williamsburg County,” Joint Base Charleston announced in a statement on Facebook Monday afternoon. “The mishap is currently under investigation, and we are unable to provide additional details to preserve the integrity of the investigative process.”

It was probably at the local pawn shop. OR its just like the Chinese SPY Balloon that now were told did not have its spy gear turned on, no transponder OR the Trans-ponder identified as something else...

Does seem odd. We will probably never know if it was human error, a bad actor or ET phoning home.

What can we do but joke when they ask the public for help to find there 80 million dollar next gen fighter?

I've usually gone with the old saying never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

Not anymore. After a certain level of stupidity, natural selection would have taken these people out. If not stupidity then it must be malice.

I want to see the debris and verify it's actually from a plane and not from Billy Bob's metal recycling.

The news said the transponder was off or malfunctioning, who knows why he ejected, could it be total lack of electrical power?

Pilot forgot to put his cell phone in airplane mode.

Now found crashed, pilot left on Auto Pilot when he/she ejected.

sample quote

The aircraft was a vertical take-off version used by in the Marine Corps.

The jet is prized for its stealth qualities that make it difficult to detect by radar.

“We are aware of the mishap and are thankful the pilot ejected safely,” Lockheed said earlier Monday. “We are supporting the government’s investigation.”

The F-35 program, the most expensive U.S. weapons program ever, is projected to cost $412 billion in development and acquisition, plus an additional $1.2 trillion to operate and maintain the fleet over more than 60 years. A single jet can cost more than $160 million, depending on the variant. They are flown by the Air Force and Navy as well as the Marines.

It’s not the first time an F-35 has been in trouble.
An F-35B version crashed in 2018 in Beaufort County, South Carolina, because of a manufacturing defect in a fuel tube, according to a Government Accounting Office’s report.

The following year, a Japanese F-35A stealth fighter plunged into the ocean during an exercise over the Pacific Ocean, which Japan blamed on pilot disorientation, rather than technical issues.

end quote

https://www.arcamax.com/currentnews/newsheadlines/s-2880622-p2

Apparently they forgot to put the Apple Airtag in the glovebox.

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/usmc-finds-missing-f-35b-amid-aviation-safety-standdown

sample quote

If an aircraft is equipped with an ejection seat, the location of the crash site is normally proximate to where the ejected pilot lands. But there have been cases where an aircraft continued flying for hundreds of miles after the pilot ejected.

In 1989, for example, a Soviet Air Force Mikoyan MiG-23 crashed in Belgium, but that was 600 mi. from where the pilot ejected over Poland. The pilot ejected after the afterburner failed and the aircraft began descending, but after his ejection the engine kept running and the aircraft continued flying on autopilot.

end quote

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-...er-landed-one-piece-pilot-ejected-2023-9

A US fighter-interceptor nicknamed the 'Cornfield Bomber' once miraculously landed in one piece in a farm field after its pilot bailed out

The cost was shared by several nations including Australia who are buying 80 plus F35s which is a huge commitment considering we only have 30 million people.

That was my first thought, if it had enough fuel it might have made it to Davy Jones' Locker.

So, they can't shoot it down? It's not like it's a balloon and will not cause any harm to the populace when it crashes randomly, right?

I think.they know where what's left of it is but do not want anyone else getting to it 1st.

I saw a home video of the piolet ejecting and the aircraft having an in air explosion shortly after, then the crash and burn with a big black billow of smoke and a trail of smoke to the crash site, that was past several hills and a few miles from where the video was taken.

From the video, there was no doubt there was an explosion of the plane after the piolet ejected, and there was no doubt there was another explosion at the crash site. That video was from a cell phone taken from the ground.
The plane was reported as missing after the video appeared. Our government in action.

It should be more widely known that a F-35B has too little room inside to put in new engines that are both much more fuel efficient and powerful.

A and C models apparently are not limited this way, but all 3 types are suffering over heating problems due to electrical needs of upgraded radars and computers.

There is a lot of talk about “un-maned robot controlled” navy ships.

It seems to me that the US Navy needs a 100 or so small un-maned flat top ships that a F-35B’s can land on if their mothership “Lightning Carrier” is on fire or sunk.

This one cracked me up. had to pas it along.

Apologies to any New York fans...

As a sailor I can tell you this, there is no way a ship large enough to do this function can function for long unmanned. The simple wear and tear of being at sea would see to that.

sample quote

“Despite years of patches and upgrades, the F-35’s most combat-crucial computer systems continue to malfunction, including the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) maintenance and parts ordering network; and the data links that display, combine, and exchange target and threat information among fighters and intelligence sources,” the agency wrote.

“As in previous years, cybersecurity testing shows that many previously confirmed F-35 vulnerabilities have not been fixed, meaning that enemy hackers could potentially shut down the ALIS network, steal secret data from the network and onboard computers, and perhaps prevent the F-35 from flying or from accomplishing its missions,” it added.

end quote

https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...-if-china-caused-the-missing-f-35-crash/

more likely some sort of over heating issue....

So, what "they" are saying it that the F35s are not any better then the average new Ford truck?

They are doing everything they can to find it

I've got 7 years under my belt, in the USAF, as an aircraft mechanic, (crew chief) on the RF-4C Phantoms, and the T-37 Trainers.
Back in my day, these aircraft weren't no where electronically sophisticated, as they are now, in this modern day and age.
I can understand how, why, that F-35 continued to fly after the pilot ejected from it.
But, they aren't telling us why, the pilot ejected, in the first place.
Right now, that's been one big secret.

My thoughts exactly.
The pilot ejected due to some major malfunction, but the the jet continues to fly unmanned?
Those two things just don't add up to me...

yea... if you look on youtube you will find MANY accidents which led to the destruction of an F-35. Way too many.... sure none shot down in combat but seemingly dependable as a harbor freight floor jack.

One report of an eye witness now claims the F-35 was flying upside down (inverted) prior to impacting the ground.

In years past we had a post here on Moparts about whether the F-35 would stay “stealthy” to enemy radar for long if minature radar antennas in the noses of missiles could be redesigned successfully to use long wavelength, low frequency, radio transmissions.
One way to do this is to use “Fractal” shaped antennas.

A similar problem is faced by submarines, who must now hide from newly invented sensors in overhead satellites, or in “sea gliders” that can roam the deep oceans by up and down glides triggered by buoyancy of internal gas bladders.

In the case of the F-106 cited above, the force of ejection righted the out-of-control situation and the aircraft just flew on.

Pilot is now quoted as “I lost control in the bad weather”

So a cloudy day is now considered "bad weather"?

Not that I'm doubting the piolet lost control of the plane.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Johnson_(engineer)

AI is now the “flavor of the year” fad wise.

Should the most promising AI be “taught” every thing technical Kelly Johnson left behind,
then assign the AI to report:
“What potential flaws would Kelly Johnson suggest the F-35 has”

sample quote

Johnson had a 15th rule that he passed on by word of mouth.
According to the book "Skunk Works" the 15th rule is:
“Starve before doing business with the damned Navy.
They don't know what the hell they want and will drive you up a wall before they break either your heart or a more exposed part of your anatomy."

end quote

lost military “stuff” in the past

https://www.popsci.com/technology/lost-military-f35-drones-nuclear-weapons/

sample quote

A plane called the Kettering Bug was built during World War I as an “aerial torpedo,” or a flying uncrewed bomb that would, in the fixed trench combat of the time, travel a set distance and then shed its wings to crash into an enemy position with explosive force. The war ended before the Bug could see action, but this predecessor of both drones and cruise missiles was tested as a secret weapon in the United States.

On October 4, 1918, the biplane bomb took off, and then flew off track. The US Army searched the area near its Dayton, Ohio launch site, asking the public if they had seen a missing plane. Several of the witnesses reported what appeared to be a plane with a drunk pilot, and the Army went along with those stories, saying the pilot had jumped out and was being treated. The plane, as an uncrewed weapon, had no human pilot on board. Rather than reveal the secret weapon, the Army let witnesses believe they had seen something other than the aerial torpedo. The Army found the wreckage of the Bug, recovered its reusable mechanical parts, and burned the wrecked fuselage on the spot.

end quote

https://www.aol.com/news/f-35-911-call-ve-065243099.html

sample quote

In the 911 call, the dispatcher at first appears surprised by the caller: "I'm sorry — what happened?"

"We've got a pilot in the house, and I guess he landed in my backyard, and we're trying to see if we could get an ambulance to the house, please," the caller responds.

The pilot gets on the call a short time later and says he is 47 years old, that he ejected at around 2,000 feet after "an aircraft failure" and had some back pain.

"We have a military jet crash. I’m the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling. I’m not sure where the airplane is," the pilot tells the dispatcher. "It would have crash-landed somewhere. I ejected."

The pilot also asks whether a plane crash had been reported in the area.

end quote

That 911 operator will likely be in a skit in the next live SNL methinks,
It's a must listen to.

Supposedly there is a shortage of 911 operators.

If they would let you do a 4 hour shift working from home
it would seem to be a good job for retired people
with degrees from the famous “School of Hard Knocks.”

Maybe, but the skill of "listening" is first taught for most by one's parents around the age of six?
If it is delayed until graduating from school of "hard knocks", one might be a felon.

I imagine the pilot is about to be assigned to flying a desk in a basement somewhere.

What struck me was he said he was 47 years old.

Seems like that may mean he previously flew Harrier Jump Jets?

sample quote

the helmet alone for an F-35 cost $400,000 in 2015, more than four times the amount the Air Force paid for the previous F-16 helmet.

end quote

from

https://www.aol.com/news/costs-100m-works-half-time-202315824.html

Yep

F-35B model is special in that its computer software can automatically trigger the ejection seat without pilot input.

This is because when it is near the ground vertically rising or descending it could crash faster than a pilot could do a manual eject.

A and C model F-35 computer software is not allowed to do this.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/the-f-35b-can-eject-its-pilot-automatically

https://www.airforcetimes.com/air/2...tor-led-f-35-maintenance-as-costly-slow/

Military members severely lack detailed manuals for F-35s.

sample quote

Without necessary and complete technical data from Lockheed Martin and its subcontractors, repair times have lagged. When the F-35 program began, GAO said, the Pentagon thought it would be more cost-effective to have contractors handle the bulk of the jet’s sustainment. As a result, the Pentagon didn’t require Lockheed to hand over the technical data that would allow the military to “organically” handle maintenance itself.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has repeatedly criticized that decision, earlier this year calling it “a serious mistake” the service won’t repeat on its sixth-generation Next Generation Air Dominance fighter.

The acquisition philosophy in vogue at the time of the F-35 program’s launch two decades ago, dubbed Total System Performance, meant the contractor on the program would own it for the system’s entire life cycle, Kendall said during a May breakfast with reporters.
This creates “a perpetual monopoly,” Kendall explained, and amounts to “acquisition malpractice” on the F-35.
Officials at an unidentified depot told GAO that maintenance manuals for some key parts are “ambiguous and rarely are detailed enough for depot personnel to make the repair.”

“As a result, depot personnel not only cannot fix the part, but they cannot learn and understand how to fix the part,” the watchdog wrote.
...snip..

The training process for service members to maintain the F-35 is also lacking, GAO said. Maintainers told GAO they mainly learned how to fix the jet while on the job. Initial Lockheed Martin-led training mainly relied on PowerPoint slides in a classroom, with limited hands-on lessons, GAO said.
Training personnel acknowledged to GAO the maintenance training is “poor and inadequate,” adding that because Lockheed Martin runs the training, the firm controls what information is presented to maintainers.

“Since so much of the technical data used to maintain the aircraft is proprietary and unavailable to the military services, trainers in the military services cannot develop effective training programs for maintainers,” GAO wrote.

The situation differs considerably from F-15 and F-16 maintenance, which includes detailed manuals spelling out how the systems operate that allow maintainers to troubleshoot nagging problems.

end quote

USA still sticking to the idea that only private company employees will have access, manuals, skills, and tools to do the most complicated MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) F-35 work:

https://aviationweek.com/defense-sp...rnational-f-35-mro-model-future-programs

What could possibly go wrong
with not fully training local enlisted Air Force, Navy and Marines
and having to ship non-flyable planes to MRO facilities several countries away?

sample quote

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has stood up two MRO facilities for the jet, one in Japan and one in Italy, so international operators do not all need to come back to the U.S. for the work. Bill LaPlante, the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, says this setup needs to become the norm as key weapons take on more international production and sustainment.
end quote