The British Ministry of Defense has launched an investigation into a Royal Navy personnel leak of video footage showing the moment an "F-35" fighter jet crashed while attempting to take off from the aircraft carrier "Queen Elizabeth." A source reported that the wreckage was found and transported to a "friendly nation."
The British Navy announced last November that an "F-35" aircraft had fallen into the Mediterranean Sea, with the pilot managing to eject safely during the crash. The British newspaper "Daily Mail" reported that one of the sailors from the aircraft carrier was arrested after video footage surfaced on social media showing the "F-35" crash. The brief clips depict the aircraft moving down the carrier’s runway before plunging into the Mediterranean Sea at the edge of the warship, indicating that it never actually took flight as previously believed.
According to investigations, the unidentified sailor used his smartphone to record a video of a surveillance camera screen mounted on the carrier's control tower that captured the incident. After the sailor was stopped, he was removed from the warship and detained due to the case, which has infuriated military leaders. The military authorities deemed the incident a "security breach," which appears to be the second error associated with the crash of the world’s most expensive aircraft, valued at over $130 million.
Investigators believe that the cause of the crash off the Egyptian coast was due to improperly removing cheap rain covers from the aircraft. They say that the stealth aircraft's engine sucked in a rain cover during its takeoff from the "Queen Elizabeth," causing the engine to fail and forcing the pilot to eject shortly after takeoff.
British forces successfully recovered the destroyed aircraft's wreckage, which is worth more than $130 million, after seven days of continuous operations alongside Italian and American forces. These forces were in a frantic race to reach the technologically advanced aircraft's wreckage before Russian forces could gain access and uncover its secrets.
The British newspaper "The Times" quoted a military source stating that there was no longer any threat concerning the downed aircraft, and the location of the wreckage recovery was not disclosed. The wreckage will be transported to a nearby base in the Mediterranean, with the source refraining from naming the location due to the sensitivity of the matter, merely stating that it is in the territory of a "friendly" country. The wreckage was located over 1.5 kilometers beneath the sea's surface.
