US Navy Race to beat China to Rescuing US F-35 fighter jet from the bottom of South China Sea

The U.S. faces a race to beat China in recovering an F-35 stealth fighter that plunged into the South China Sea on Monday after what the Navy termed a 'landing mishap' aboard the USS Carl Vinson.

The pilot was forced to eject and seven military personnel in total were injured. The $100m warplane, customised for naval operations, plunged overboard - making it the second time in three months that an F-35 has been lost at sea.

'The U.S. Navy is making recovery operations arrangements for the F-35C aircraft involved in the mishap aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in the South China Sea, Jan. 24,' a spokesperson for the US 7th Fleet told DailyMail.com.

'We cannot speculate on what the PRC's intentions are on this matter.' It leaves the Navy with a complex salvage operation if it is avoid its most sophisticated warplane, crammed with futuristic technology, falling into the hands of the People's Republic of China.
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