00:00The United States Marine Corps reported that the pilot of an F-35B stealth fighter is expected to die.
00:07survive after ejecting from the aircraft before it crashed in California.
00:13According to the Associated Press, the plane crashed on Friday near Miramar Air Force Base in San Diego.
00:20The pilot ejected. He was transported to a local medical center in stable condition for evaluation and treatment.
00:27injuries that do not put their lives at risk.
00:30The Marine Corps said in an updated statement.
00:34Candace Hadley, a spokesperson for the San Diego Fire Department, indicated that firefighters responded to the scene.
00:41a vegetation fire started near the crash site.
00:45The spokeswoman referred additional questions to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
00:51This base formerly housed the Navy's Fighter Pilot Training School, depicted in the original film
00:59Top Gun.
01:00and was known as Fighter Town USA in its golden age.
01:04The school moved to Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada in 1996, following the transfer of the
01:11based on the Marine Corps.
01:12The United States Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force collectively possess more than 630 units
01:21of the F-35,
01:23according to a 2024 analysis by the Government Accountability Office, GAO.
01:28The F-35B is one of several versions of the aircraft and features an engine designed for short takeoffs and
01:36vertical landings.
01:38Each F-35B unit costs approximately $109 million.
01:44The report estimates that the F-35 program as a whole will cost around $2 trillion.
01:52once the Army acquires more than 1,800 additional aircraft and operates them for the next few decades.
01:58A statement from the Marine Corps classified Friday's accident as a Class A incident.
02:06the most serious category, used when damages exceed $2 million,
02:11The aircraft is destroyed or a member of the service dies.
02:15In the Air Force alone, at least 17 other Class A incidents have been recorded.
02:22related to F-35 aircraft since 2000,
02:26according to statistics from the Air Force Security Center.
02:30In addition, there have been at least 7 other incidents involving military aircraft in the United States this year.
02:37according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network database.
02:42The F-35s are considered the safest and most capable fighter jets in the US military fleet.
02:49according to the Lexington Institute, a think tank specializing in defense technology and national security.
02:56Since the introduction of the F-35 in 2015, fewer accidents have been recorded in any of its variants.
03:03compared to other fighters during their early years of service,
03:07and fatal accidents are rare in this model.
03:12In five previous F-35 accidents, the pilots managed to eject, although at least one was injured.
03:19That pilot suffered injuries when an F-35 crashed near Albuquerque International Airport, New Mexico.
03:27in May 2024.
03:29The aircraft was headed towards an Air Force base in California, coming from Texas.
04:04The aircraft was headed to the Air Force base.
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