The wreckage of the sunken F-35 Lightning II fighter was lifted from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea the fifth generation F-35 Lightning II, which in November got there after a crash from the British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, reports The Drive.
The publication notes that Russia could be interested in accessing the fragments of the lost aircraft, so it was important remove its fragments as early as possible. “Successfully locating the aircraft wreckage and retrieving them was a top priority given the security risks that would arise if any part of the aircraft fell into the hands of a less friendly country, such as Russia,” the American edition writes.
In total, it took two weeks to find the fragments of the F-35 Lightning II, and another one to retrieve them. The Drive notes that the most likely reason for the loss of a $ 100 million aircraft was human error.
In November, military expert Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia that the Russian side is of particular interest among the elements in the wreckage of the sunken in the Mediterranean British fifth-generation fighter jet with short takeoff and vertical landing F-35B Lightning II could represent a friend or foe recognition unit and weapon control equipment.
In the same month, the British tabloid Daily Mirror wrote that the Royal Military -the British Navy (Navy) participated in the “race against the Russians” for the recently lost in the Mediterranean aircraft F-35B Lightning II.
The F-35B Lightning II fighter of the Royal Navy of Great Britain sank on the morning of November 17 in the Mediterranean Sea … The pilot managed to eject and was taken to the British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth. The incident occurred during a scheduled flight.