The remains of the stealth plane that disappeared in the United States after the pilot had to eject have finally been found, the Army reported this Monday, after a day in which the failure to find the $ 80 million aircraft caused astonishment and teasing.
The debris of the F-35 fighter was found in Williamsburg County, South Carolina (east) – the same state where it disappeared – more specifically two hours from Joint Base Charleston (JBC), authorities confirmed in a statement . published on X, formerly Twitter.
“Community members should avoid the area while the recovery team secures the debris field,” the bulletin said.
When the plane disappeared on Sunday, the JBC put out a call on social media for anyone with information about it to call a hotline.
Late Monday afternoon, flight tracking sites showed several search aircraft were concentrated in a wooded and agricultural area near the town of Stuckey, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Charleston.
The F-35 Lightning II is a highly sought-after aircraft, especially in Ukraine, as its shape and characteristics prevent radar detection.
The pilot of the plane in question parachuted over a North Charleston neighborhood for unknown reasons, leaving the device flying in a “zombie state,” i.e. on autopilot.
JBC spokesman Jeremy Huggins told The Washington Post that the plane’s transponder was not working, making tracking difficult.
This is not the first time that a fighter jet has disappeared.
In 1989, the pilot of a Soviet MiG-23 crashed over Poland and the plane continued to fly on autopilot until it crashed in Belgium, more than 900 kilometers away.
The disappearance of the F-35 filled the internet with messages of daze.
“How the hell do you lose an F-35?” “How is it possible that there is no tracking device and the public is being asked to find and deliver an aircraft?” commented Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace.
Some netizens posted manipulated photos with fake wanted notices hanging on trees: “F-35 missing. Reward of $500,” one of them reads.
Others mocked the situation and mocked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been demanding this type of aircraft for months for the war he has been waging against Russia since Russian troops invaded his country.
