USA: – F-35 disappeared without a trace:

At around 2pm on Sunday, the pilot of an F-535 fighter jet opened fire over the US state of South Carolina.

It is not yet clear what happened, but according to official statements, the plane was involved in an “accident.” BBC.

The pilot was able to land on the ground using a parachute, and was taken to the hospital. The condition is described as stable.

– no one knows

However, the plane has not been seen since the “accident”, and has been reported missing.

To date, fruitless searches are still ongoing in Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion.

Therefore, the US Department of Defense requested the public’s assistance in the search for the plane, whose price is about 80 million dollars, according to Agence France-Presse.

– How the hell do you lose an F-35? asks Republican Nancy Mace, who sits in Congress from South Carolina x/twitter.

– Why is there no tracking system? We ask the audience what? Find it and deliver it?

However, according to the BBC, the plane is of the stealth type and therefore designed to avoid detection.

“No one knows whether the plane is in the air or underwater,” Mayes writes.

Depending on the amount of fuel remaining in the plane, it can fly hundreds of kilometers without a pilot, says military expert and former British Army officer, Frank Ledwidge. Newsweek.

Frederic Mertens, an analyst at the Hague Center for Security Studies, agrees.

Historically, a drone could fly long distances on autopilot, he tells Newsweek.

The most expensive weapon

According to the BBC, the US Marine Corps says it currently has limited information about what happened, and is still trying to piece together the clues.

They say the incident is under investigation.

According to US authorities, the F-35 is one of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons systems. It is estimated that the plane will cost American taxpayers $1.7 trillion “to purchase, operate and maintain” over the plane’s useful life, he wrote. Interested in trade.