F-35 Jet Mystery Ends as Wreckage Is Found
By John Ismay, Jesus Jiménez and Christine Hauser
Date: September 19, 2023
Debris from a missing F-35 jet was located in Williamsburg County, north of Charleston, South Carolina, a day after the Marine Corps lost sight of it post the pilot’s safe ejection. The discovery answered questions about the jet’s location, previously leading to speculation about its status and the Pentagon’s tracking capabilities. In light of this incident and other recent aviation accidents, the Marine Corps has initiated a two-day halt in operations to revisit safety protocols. The F-35, developed by Lockheed Martin, is part of the Department of Defense’s most expensive program, estimated at a lifetime cost of nearly $1.7 trillion.