Fears that subs from China, which claims the area, could be first to reach wreckage that plunged from deck of aircraft carrier
The US navy is racing to salvage an F-35C fighter jet from the bottom of theafter it crashed on an aircraft carrier and plunged overboard – taking with it highly classified technology that would be a coup if China retrieved it first.
The most advanced US fighter, a stealth plane costing over $100m, is packed with highly classified technology and if found would represent an intelligence boon for, which claims almost all of the South China Sea as its own territory. The Vinson was on a patrol intended to challenge that territorial claim and defend international freedom of navigation.
In Beijing the foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said the Chinese government had no ambitions to find the crashed plane. “I noted relevant reports. This is not the first time that the US has an accident in the South China Sea,” he said. after a collision with a pursuing Chinese fighter plane. The fighter crashed and its pilot was killed.