The United States military has announced the discovery of debris from a missing F-35 fighter jet, a day after requesting public assistance in locating wreckage from the elusive aircraft.
The incident occurred after a pilot ejected from the F-35 for unknown reasons.
The debris field from the F-35B Lightning II jet, which went missing on Sunday afternoon, was located on Monday in South Carolina’s rural Williamsburg County, according to the Marine Corps’s Joint Base Charleston.
The base expressed gratitude to local, county, and state officials for their assistance in the search.
Authorities had been searching for the jet since the pilot, whose identity remains undisclosed, parachuted to safety into a North Charleston neighborhood at about 2 pm (18:00 GMT) on Sunday.
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The aircraft continued flying in what some termed a “zombie state.”
The pilot was taken to a hospital, where they were reported to be in stable condition.
Subsequently, military officials appealed for public assistance in locating the aircraft, which costs approximately $80 million, resulting in a flurry of jokes and memes on social media.
All Marine Corps aviation units were ordered on Monday to halt operations for two days. General Eric Smith, the acting commandant of the Marine Corps, ordered the stand-down during which commanders will reinforce safe flying policies, practices, and procedures with their Marines.
The loss of the F-35 marks the third documented “Class-A mishap” in the past six weeks, according to the Marine Corps.
Such incidents involve damages exceeding $2.5 million, fatalities, or permanent disabilities. No details were provided regarding the two previous incidents, but in August, three US Marines were killed in a crash of a V-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft during a training exercise in Australia.
Additionally, a Marine Corps pilot died when his combat jet crashed near a San Diego base during a training flight.
The circumstances that led to the loss of the F-35 are currently under investigation. A pilot in a second F-35 from the same squadron returned safely to Joint Base Charleston.
The F-35’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, touts its near-invisibility to radar tracking and advanced sensors as key advantages of the aircraft.
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