An F-35C Lightning II takes off from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during training with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Philippine Sea on January 22, 2022. An F-35C fighter aircraft attached to Carrier Air Wing Two crashed while landing on the deck of USS Carl Vinson in the South China Sea on January 24, 2022
According to the US Navy, a fighter pilot bailed safely from an aircraft after it crashed while returning to a ship in the South China Sea on Monday.
According to the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, seven sailors on board the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson were hurt during the "landing incident." Three of them needed to be airlifted to Manila, Philippines, for treatment, while the other four were treated onboard. All were in stable condition, including the F-35C Lightning II pilot, according to the report.
According to the statement, the accident occurred as the carrier was "performing ordinary flying operations in the South China Sea." A helicopter was used to collect the F-35 pilot, who was assigned to Carrier Air Wing Two as part of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group. The Navy stated, "Additional facts and the reason of the in-flight incident are under investigation."
The F-35 is the United States' fifth-generation stealth fighter. The F-35C uses the "catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery"—or CATOBAR—system, which uses a catapult to launch the aircraft and arresting wires to recover it.
The event occurred on the second day of naval drills involving the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Abraham Lincoln, both Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. Following six days of training with Japanese forces in the Western Pacific, south of Okinawa, the carriers, which each carry roughly 20 F-35Cs, were escorted into the contentious South China Sea on Sunday. Large fleets of Chinese airplanes were observed in the skies southwest of Taiwan as the two carrier strike groups arrived.
According to pertinent official declarations, the majority of American naval troops are now stationed in the Indo-Pacific. Despite urgent security duties in Ukraine amid its confrontation with Russia, the US regards Asia as a vital theater of operations, as seen by continuous dual-carrier exercises near Chinese-claimed maritime zones.
"The ships and aircraft of the two carrier strike groups, with over 14,000 Sailors and Marines, will conduct coordinated surface and air operations in a complex maritime environment to demonstrate the US Indo-Pacific Command Joint Force's ability to deliver a powerful maritime force," Carl Vinson-led Carrier Strike Group 1 Public Affairs said on Monday, announcing the start of dual-carrier operations in the South China Sea.
"The opportunity to train with Carrier Strike Group 1 in the South China Sea is quite significant. These operations help us increase our combat credibility, reassure our friends and partners, and demonstrate our determination as a Navy to maintain regional security and oppose malign influence "Rear Adm. Jeffrey Anderson, commander of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group 3, stated
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson transits the South China Sea on January 13, 2022. An F-35C fighter aircraft attached to Carrier Air Wing Two crashed while landing on the deck of USS Carl Vinson in the South China Sea on January 24, 2022
According to the statement, the two carrier groups would practice anti-submarine warfare, air warfare, replenishment-at-sea, cross-deck flying operations, and maritime interdiction operations.
Despite the fact that the maneuvers take place in international seas, Beijing sees the regular deployments as a direct attack on its capabilities. China said it requested a halt to the US's "hostile naval and air force actions" in its surrounding seas and airspace at a meeting between Chinese and American military leaders in December.
China used the incident in October 2021, when the Seawolf-class nuclear-powered submarine USS Connecticut struck an "uncharted seamount" thought to be in the South China Sea, to repeat demands for the US military to keep out of the region.
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