Officials from Britain, the United States of America and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expressed their confidence on Monday that they will be able, before their rival Russia, to find the wreckage of the stealth fighter "F-35", which crashed last Wednesday over the Mediterranean Sea.
The fighter took off from the British aircraft carrier "HMS Queen Elizabeth", before falling into the sea.
Before the fighter fell into the sea, its commander managed to jump out of it and survived.
Following the accident, NATO expressed its fear that Russia might find the wreckage of the fighter, and get its hands on the "highly advanced technology that distinguishes it."
But General Simon Doran, the highest-ranking US officer on board the British aircraft carrier, reassured Monday: "We'll get it back first, I guarantee you that."
In turn, Deputy Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, General Tim Radford, told reporters on board the carrier, which is sailing in the Mediterranean, "we are not worried about taking it back."
"We are not worried because we are working on this at the moment. There was concern when the plane went down, but the pilot is fine and that is the most important thing," he added, declining to reveal details of the pilot's rescue operation.
For his part, said Steve Morehouse, who commands one of the nine warships involved in efforts to search for the plane, that the crash of the F-35 is a "really unfortunate accident (...) This is a setback."
Morehouse stressed that "the durability of this aircraft and our confidence in it and the project has not wavered."
The United Kingdom has received to date 21 American F-35 fighters, most of which operate on board the British aircraft carriers "Queen Elizabeth" and "Prince of Wales".
The F-35 is a fifth-generation fighter, especially characterized by the ability to vertically land and short takeoff, and is difficult to detect due to the ability to be hidden from radars.
0 Comments