from the if-they-can't-find-it,-was-it-too-stealthy? dept.
US Navy wants to get crashed stealth fighter back -- before China can:
US Navy wants to get crashed stealth fighter back -- before China can
The F-35C, a single-engine stealth fighter and the newest jet in the US Navy fleet, crash-landed on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson during routine operations on Monday, the Navy said.
The $100 million warplane impacted the flight deck of the 100,000-ton aircraft carrier and then fell into the sea as its pilot ejected, Navy officials said. The pilot and six sailors aboard the Vinson were injured.
While damage to the Vinson was only superficial, and it and the carrier's air wing have resumed normal operations, the Navy faces the daunting task of attempting to pull the F-35 off the ocean floor in some of the most contested waters on the planet.
The Navy is giving scant details on its recovery plans for the F-35C, the first of which only became operational in 2019.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @12:03AM
China already has the specs, because Israel sold those specs to them!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday January 28 2022, @12:13AM (12 children)
The Chinese won't be able to find it.
We really ought to give this F-35 boondoggle to the Chinese. It would set them back a decade or more, and eat up tons of resources with little return.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @01:37AM (4 children)
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was purposefully crashed there in the hopes that the Chinese would retrieve it and bankrupt themselves trying to make it work. A strategy not exactly unprecedented as Reagan more or less drove the USSR bankrupt trying to match our nuclear missile count.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @01:46AM (2 children)
A Trojan Rubix Cube.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @03:28AM (1 child)
A sheep in wolves clothing.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday January 28 2022, @04:48PM
A sheep in Heinz 357 clothing.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Informative) by driverless on Friday January 28 2022, @10:47AM
ITYM:
That may be the only way it can be made to work, get the Chinese to work on it instead of Lockheed-Martin, then buy them on Aliexpress for $35.15 + 27 Alicoins, free shipping via Yanwen.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @04:52AM
You have it reversed. China gave us the F-35 technology, we thought we were stealing it
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday January 28 2022, @03:26PM (2 children)
Better than an overt retrieval operation destined to foment conflict and highly likely to fail in the end, I'd advocate for a covert seek and destroy mission. Find it and then blow it to hell, much easier than lifting it to the surface. While you're at it, set off 15 or 20 similar explosions at other plausible recovery site locations, just so anyone looking for scraps will have a bigger area to cover.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by corey on Friday January 28 2022, @10:37PM (1 child)
I don’t think this will work. Some of the more secretive things about it (according to Reddit people) are materials. Like the stealth coating, and the engine blades. If it were in pieces, they’d only need bits to study and work out the composition.
Plus software, which you could get unless the chips were physically destroyed as well.
I don’t think recovery is a major task for them, they’ll do it. They’ve done this before.
This us the reason most of the US drones are non secret, crashing behind enemy lines is something they’re designed to do, in a way.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday January 29 2022, @12:24AM
That CIA mission for the sub took a really long time...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @09:34PM
That's pretty much what the J-20 is. The Chinese looked at the F-35, realized that it was crippled because of the foolish attempt to build one airframe that could do everything, and built a better version for 1/10 the price by leaving out the VTOL stuff and some of the other whizbangs.
The F-35 might well be the worst fighter ever built, since it's a bad design that everyone is stuck with. At least earlier bad airplanes got abandoned before they could do too much damage. All we can really do with the F-35 is hope there's no war until a replacement comes along.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Saturday January 29 2022, @01:14AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 29 2022, @01:52AM
Exactly. The F-35 could have been branched around the time the prototypes were flying, and a separate program developed a dedicated fighter, another program developed a strike plane, and another program developed a combat support craft. The potential is there for all of those different platforms, but you can't build them all into the same airframe.
How 'bout an automotive analogy? Let's build an all terrain heavy hauler capable of 200 mph, but we want all the luxury and comfort of a Rolls Royce built into it. AND, wwe want it to get 300 mpg of diesel fuel. Who do we get to build it, Terex? The requirements are beyond preposterous.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @12:23AM
on the crash too. Must be real easy to hack these things
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @12:27AM (15 children)
The fact that the incident is being reported in the news is highly suspect.
Why would you want to report to the world you have a valuable unrecovered military asset in International waters?
Sounds like a fishy Hollywood movie.
I call Californication on this one.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday January 28 2022, @12:44AM
They either know it is too badly damaged to be worth anything (either because of the crash, or because it has some failsafes) so they want China to spend time and money retrieving something that is worthless.
OR.. they have booby-trapped it, so China will waste time and money AND get a .. surprise.. if they succeed in retrieving it.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 28 2022, @12:46AM
Keep in mind it's not CNN's valuable, unrecovered military asset. They're probably just playing up the recovery angle to get more eyeballs.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @12:55AM (1 child)
Pelosi gave the story to CNN because she and CNN both hate America, and both hate the military.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @05:14PM
Paying a lot of money for something does not mean it is valuable.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sonamchauhan on Friday January 28 2022, @01:08AM (5 children)
This was on CNN, not Pravda. The incident was witnessed by the crew of two aircraft carriers and their airwings. It cannot be suppressed long, so why not report it?
When I heard that the F-35 fell into the sea, recovery by the Chinese was one of the first things I thought of.
News tends follows curiosity. Sunlight on a topic is useful to the people who are in the right.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @01:30AM (4 children)
LOL CNN is more reliable than Pravda? Go fuck yourself, you international Jew. Fuck off back to Ukraine where you belong, Hohol, and fight Russia yourself you chickenshit. Goyim are through dying to enrich chickenshit Jews.
(Score: 5, Touché) by khallow on Friday January 28 2022, @05:48AM (3 children)
It's a really sad thing to say about Pravda. But well yes.
So what do you have to offer, aside from whiny name calling? Those "international Jews" (which frankly, sounds like everyone who's contributing to society) offer a working global economic system. You meanwhile seem to have trouble shitting on your keyboard. Seriously, that's really not working out for you. So why should I care what you think?
Insecure much? If I were someone who cared about Russia, I'd worry more about what China is going to do to Russia in a few decades than the Ukraine and imaginary international Jews.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Friday January 28 2022, @03:29PM
Thanks! :)
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @05:02PM (1 child)
Of course an International Jew would brag about how "good for the world economy" International Jews are, then in the very last sentence call the International Jew "imaginary." Whatever nation you infest, you'd better get ready to pack your bags for a one-way ticket to Ukraine, as Goys worldwide are getting fed up with Jew shit.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Friday January 28 2022, @08:05PM
Maybe you ought to find a better class of problem?
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @01:42AM (3 children)
Should be obvious. The USA is desperate to start WW3. They're trolling China (and Russia). The USA is acting like Aristarchus, pretending to be the victim and looking for any excuse to use "all options."
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 28 2022, @05:16AM (2 children)
Not desperate enough to do any serious effort though. I find it interesting how people are losing their shit over someone wrecking a fighter jet. My take is that either the US will get there soon enough and get their wreck back or they'll be too slow. That's it for drama.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deimtee on Friday January 28 2022, @09:37AM (1 child)
It crashed off the deck of the Carl Vinson. All they had to do to "get there soon enough" was not leave. Seriously, just park the carrier there until they pick up the wreckage.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 28 2022, @07:49PM
Second, how does having a fleet parked on the surface discourage an adversary from looting the downed plane via sub? My take is an adequate US presence would be a destroyer with anti-sub capability. That maintains the claim, including some ability to attack anything approaching the site. And well, the US just might be doing that.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Friday January 28 2022, @02:17PM
Wish there was a facepalm setting to mod this post.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @01:01AM (2 children)
It's the only way to be sure.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday January 28 2022, @01:32AM
Yeah, but, Godzilla, remember?
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday January 28 2022, @08:47PM
Not completely unprecedented:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_bombing_of_the_Chinese_embassy_in_Belgrade#Wreckage_of_shot_down_F-117_Nighthawk_stealth_fighter [wikipedia.org]
We may never know for certain, but the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was accidently struck with a US bomb after an F117 was shot down and parts almost definitely were headed to China.
(Score: 1, Troll) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday January 28 2022, @02:59AM (5 children)
If China recovered it and does reverse engineer it they could probably build one just as good for a tenth the price to sell to various interests.
And then those various interests would find out what a complete piece of junk the plane is and start talking about it in the world news.
It would all be very embarrassing for the U.S.Navy and U.S. MIC.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Friday January 28 2022, @05:13AM (4 children)
Doesn't China already manufactu some of the electronics for it? I didn't think the west had chip fabs these days...
(Score: 2) by EJ on Friday January 28 2022, @05:17AM (2 children)
Perhaps you've never heard of this little company called Intel.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @03:45PM
Texas Instruments still have fabs in the US, as do Microchip and Micron. Even General Motors has one. I was surprised at how many fabs there are in the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabrication_plants [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Sunday January 30 2022, @03:06AM
Well, if Intel is supplying chips to the F35, I can see why it's so crash prone...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @02:55PM
ASML (out ov Veldhoven, Netherlands) makes the machines that chipmakers manufacture chips with. Where those machines get set up is their customer's problem, not ASML's. Nederlands is a member of NATO, wat leuk!
(Score: 0, Troll) by EJ on Friday January 28 2022, @05:08AM (2 children)
Russia is mobilizing on the Ukraine border.
China may try to claim the US plane wreckage.
The first trans woman to dominate on Jeopardy ended her run.
These are all the hallmarks of another world war.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @03:47PM
You troll, but the first one has precedent. I seem to recall someone else who wanted to get some liebensraum by reclaiming 'historical territory'.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday January 28 2022, @06:57PM
I'm fairly certain he has been dead, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, since 1914. So unless this is the Undead World War III that is about to kick off and Zombie Franz is some kind of leading figure I think we are safe. Zombie-Putin and Zombie-Biden tho are still shuffling along ...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @06:00AM (3 children)
This is the second extremely expensive F35 in a month to go into the drink. One US, one British. These things don't seem very reliable. Not very threatening if you can't get it off the carrier boys and girls.
(Score: 5, Funny) by gawdonblue on Friday January 28 2022, @07:41AM
I think you'll find that these are very easy to get off carriers. Two in a month, so far :)
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday January 28 2022, @11:36AM
The video of the brit one looked like a mechanical failure (the plane just rolled off the end of the runway at takeoff - no acceleration)
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Saturday January 29 2022, @07:21AM
Actually, it's the third one. The Japanese managed to crash one into the ocean too, except they managed to do it at 700 MPH so there wasn't much to recover.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday January 28 2022, @12:39PM (2 children)
They should just ask their friends over at the CIA, they lifted an entire soviet submarine in 1974. So lifting the wreck of an aircraft almost 50 years later shouldn't really be much of an issue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @01:12PM (1 child)
Yep, and they also used the media to fabricate a story about mining for minerals to hide the true motive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28 2022, @03:50PM
In that case the Russians didn't know where their lost submarine was so the cover was at least plausible. The loss of an aircraft is a lot more visible and it is their own plane so a cover story doesn't really help anything. On the contrary, it gives them extra credibility in keeping others (like China) away from the crash site.