The United States and the United Kingdom want to advance on Russia to recover the wreckage of the stealth plane

It is the object of all greed. An F-35B stealth aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean on Wednesday, 17 November, after taking off from the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. His pilot was able to get out in time. But NATO is concerned about the possibility of the wreckage being recovered by Russia and the risk of it getting its hands on its technology.

Officials from the United Kingdom, the United States and NATO confirmed, Monday, November 22, that the aircraft could be retaken before Russia. “We’ll get it back first, I guarantee it.”said General Simon Doran, the highest-ranking American officer aboard the aircraft carrier. We are not worried about his recovery.For his part, the Deputy Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, General Tim Radford, announced to reporters on board the ship, which is sailing in the Mediterranean.

‘Really unfortunate incident’

“We are not worried because we are working on this at the moment. There was a concern when the plane went down but the pilot is safe and that is the most important thing.”, he added. He was unwilling to reveal the details of the rescue operation.

The loss of the F-35 is a “The really unfortunate incident (…) set back”Said the officer at the head of one of the nine ships operating in the Mediterranean, Commander Steve Morehouse. But he added, “The reliability of this device and our confidence in it and in the project are intact”.

The UK has already received 21 US F-35Bs, most of them destined for two aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The F-35B is a variant of the fifth generation F-35, capable of vertical landing and short takeoff.