How much does a F35 cost? US military requests help in searching for missing aircraft post pilot ejection

On Monday, September 18, reports of an F35 fighter jet going missing surfaced online after officials in the U.S. military appealed to the general public to help them find the aircraft. On Sunday afternoon, officials lost track of the jet somewhere over South Carolina after its pilot safely ejected and parachuted due to a mishap. Following this, the pilot was taken to a local medical center for a checkup.

South Carolina’s airbase, Joint Base Charleston, wrote in a Facebook post on September 18 that the missing jet was manufactured by Lockheed Martin, and the F-35 Lightning II belonged to the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. According to Fortune, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet costs $1.7 trillion.

Joint Base Charleston informs the public about the missing F35 jet. (Image via Facebook/Joint Base Charleston)

Authorities suspect that the jet might have crashed somewhere north of Joint Base Charleston. The Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort is currently helping the base in locating the missing aircraft and have deployed emergency response teams to find it.

Joint Base Charleston said that based on the last-known location of the aircraft, and in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), they are focusing their search north of the base, around Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie.

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The general public has been urged to help officials find the F35 fighter jet

While the name of the pilot on the F35 jet is yet to be released, he was reportedly in stable condition when he was admitted to the hospital in the neighborhood of North Charleston around 2 pm on Sunday, September 17.

The aircraft, which was under the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing as part of a Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron set off its flight from MCAS Beaufort. Officials engaged in the search operation said that a second F35 fighter jet was flying with the other one that went missing. The second aircraft landed safely at Joint Base Charleston. However, there is no evidence of their interference with one another mid-air.

Senior Master Sergeant Heather Stanton at the airforce base said that after the weather in the area cleared up, a helicopter from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division also joined the search for the F35 fighter jet.

What might have caused the mishap as well as other detailed information are said to be provided by the authorities at a later time. Nancy Mace, a local congresswoman commented on the incident and asked:

“How in the hell do you lose an F-35? How is there not a tracking device and we’re asking the public to what, find a jet and turn it in?”

Joint Base Charleston sought help from the public in cooperating with civilian authorities and the military to locate the missing jet. Anyone with information has been asked to call the Defense Operations Center of the Air Force base at 843-963-3600.